Stan Hywet Hall and Garden Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008 - (Page 18)

f e at u r e : 50 years of grandeur Behind the Mansion I t was the epitome of a family business. The Seiberling family is Goodyear Tire and Rubber, the connection is that strong. Although the traditional patriarch or founder is pictured as a hard-driving businessman with little time for anything except the corporate bottom line, in the case of Frank A. (F.A. to his friends) Seiberling, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, what is perhaps most striking about F.A. Seiberling are his vivid recollections of his relationships with people. The eldest son of nine children was 18 The Man By Myra Orenstein F.A. Seiberling, dedicated businessman, was also devoted to his family. born to John Frederick and Catherine Miller Seiberling on October 6, 1859 on his grandfather’s farm near Western Star, Ohio. According to Stan Hywet’s archives, F.A. had many fond memories of his childhood. “I recall the day when my mother took me into the northeast corner room on the first floor and said to me with much feeling, ‘Frank, you were born in this room,’ and telling me that as a baby I cried more than any of her children and that Grandmother Seiberling, hearing my cries across the fields, would walk up from the old farmhouse to help mother with her household duties, and particularly with the care of the children.” What is striking about F.A. is that his childhood memories take on such great importance to his development as a person and as an industry leader. Perhaps it was this strong family connection that ultimately led to him becoming a giant in the rubber industry, for he surely inherited his father’s entrepreneurial spirit. F.A.’s father operated the farm as well as a saw mill for his grandfather. It was there than he invented “the dropper,” stan hywet hall & gardens magazine

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Stan Hywet Hall and Garden Magazine - Fall/Winter 2008

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