Longtime Harborite Dave Seymour has been named the Polson Museum’s Pioneer of the Year.

He will be honored Sunday at a 2 p.m. reception at the museum’s Railroad Camp Locomotive Shop. The public is invited to attend.

Seymour was born April 6, 1937, in Tonasket. When he was a youngster, his family moved around Washington following his father, Everett’s, various calls as a Methodist minister, which ultimately led to Hoquiam just as Seymour was entering his senior year in high school. After graduating in 1955, he pursued an education degree at Seattle Pacific University. Durnig his summer breaks, he worked the Harbor mill circuit at Grays Harbor Veneer, Blagen’s and Saginaw Shingle.

From a very early age, Dave exhibited a passion for music, picking out tunes from the family’s pump organ and singing hymns from the pulpit of his father’s church. Throughout his school years, he found friends through choirs, bands and barbershop quartets. He remains one of the Harbor’s most dedicated champions of the barbershop singing tradition.

Following in the footsteps of his mother, Dorothy, Seymour began a 37-year teaching career — nearly all of it at A.J. West Elementary. Following retirement, he never lost his calling as a teacher, with an additional 18 years of substitute work and a continuous role teaching Sunday school from 1960 through today.

Dave’s volunteerism is especially notable with 20 years as a docent at the Polson Museum, always ready to greet guests with a smile and a passion for Harbor history. He has also volunteered extensively at the Pacific Care Center, Harbor Home Health and Hospice, and Montesano Methodist Church.