Seabrook Educational and Cultural Centers annual volunteers appreciation dinner. From left; the Rev.Thomas Vaga, Seabrook Estonian Lutheran Church, Bruce Peterson, SECC President, Eevi Truumees, SECC Trustee, Sten Schwede, Consul General of Estonia in New York, Juhan Simonson, Past President Estonian American National Council, Mayor James Crilley Upper Deerfield Township Mayor, John Fuyuume SECC Trustee.Wednesday September , 12, 2012 played in Millville (Staff Photo By Cathy Cramer/South Jersey Times) VINELAND — The Seabrook Educational and Cultural Center's (SECC) Volunteer Appreciation Banquet had a special guest on Wednesday when Sten Schwede, the consul general for the Republic of Estonia in New York, presented a letter from the country's president to the group.
Before Schwede spoke, Juhan Simonson, former president of the Estonian National Council, introduced the consul general and read off his credentials.
The consul general and his wife, Jaana, blushed as it was read.
"I am very honored to be here this evening," Schwede said to the group at Maplewood III in Vineland. "It is a great honor because Seabrook Farms and Upper Deerfield have an important place in the post-World War II history of the Estonian nation. I have very much looked forward to this visit because meeting Estonian-Americans and friends of Estonia is the most pleasant part of my job as consul general."
Schwede presented a letter from Toomas Hendrik Ilves, president of Estonia, thanking the SECC’s museum for chronicling the history of the people from Seabrook, especially of the Estonian people.
“Estonia is a small country and the nation is one of the smallest in Europe, so when you have thousands of Estonians living somewhere together, creating a new community, that’s a pretty big thing,” Schwede said.
The SECC is a museum in Upper Deerfield Township’s municipal building that documents the post-World War II migration to Upper Deerfield, including the relocation of Japanese-Americans and Europeans.
Fresh out of internment camps, Japanese-Americans with nowhere to turn to came to the area to work at the Seabrook Farms Company.
More than 30 different ethnicities came to work at Seabrook, creating its own little melting-pot in Cumberland County. One large group of people were Estonians escaping the rule of Communism in Europe.
“They were one of many ethnical groups living in the Seabrook area and were immensely grateful for everything that the United States government, local municipalities and Seabrook Farms Company had offered them to re-build their lives,” Schwede said.
Trustee and current president of the Seabrook Estonian American Association, Eevi Truumees, helped arrange Schwede’s visit to the area.
"It's always important to remember your past because you learn from your past and it enriches your life to know what your grandparents and your great-grandparents did before you," Truumees said about the SECC. "And that's important."
Truumees was proud to receive the letter from the president of Estonia, which recognized the SECC’S documentation and preservation of Seabrook’s history.
“That shows that he really treasures the work that the SECC has done, preserving the history of all nations, including Estonians,” Truumees said.
Contact Don E. Woods at 856-451-1000, ext. 518 or dwoods@southjerseymedia.com