SEMO PHYSICAL PLANT HEAD RETIRING; SEYER HAS HAD HANDS ON NUTS, BOLTS 43 YEARS

For 43 years, Vince Seyer has had his hands on the nuts and bolts of Southeast Missouri State University.

The 62-year-old Seyer retired last December, but he's still going to work, directing the operations of the physical plant under a contract with the university until a new director can be hired. University officials say a new physical plant director will be hired this spring.

Seyer began working at Southeast as a carpenter on May 23, 1949, only two days after a tornado swept through Cape Girardeau, killing 22 people.

"The tornado blew the roof off the (university) president's home," recalled Seyer, who on his first day on the job was put to work helping to repair the roof.

Over the years, Seyer has handled an assortment of jobs, from carpentry to masonry work. Among other things, Seyer, with the aid of students, built about 20 large tables that are still in use today at Kent Library.

In 1964, Seyer was named general foreman for maintenance and construction, the university's first permanent, general foreman. "Boy, those were busy times then with expansion," he said.

Seyer has headed up the physical plant operations at Southeast since March 1974, when he was named superintendent of buildings and grounds. The job title was subsequently changed to physical plant director.

From 1974 to 1989, the campus was literally Seyer's life. He lived on campus for those 15 years in a house on Henderson Avenue. Seyer explained that it was a job requirement at that time for the building superintendent to live on campus.

Seyer said he spent many a night answering service calls. "I never had an assistant (manager) until three or four years ago. I was a hands-on manager," he said.

"I lived the job. I was married to my work."

For most of his career as physical plant director, his office was in Memorial Hall. About 18 months ago, Seyer moved into new office space in a renovated building across from the power plant.

Over the course of his career, Seyer has worked under six university presidents and witnessed dramatic changes on campus.

In 1949, there were probably less than 20 employees in the university's physical plant, including custodians. Today there are about 140.

As physical plant director, Seyer oversees a department that maintains more than 2 million square feet of building space, 26 acres of paved parking and 17 acres of unpaved parking, as well as 400 acres of grounds, streets and athletic fields.

Miles and miles of utility tunnels extend across campus. Most of them are about 5 feet wide and more than 6 feet in height, Seyer said. The tunnels house everything from steam pipes to telephone lines and computer cables.

When Seyer began working for the university, the campus was considerably smaller, centered around Academic Hall.

"At that time the power plant was over in the basement of the industrial arts building," he recalled. "They had a couple small generators and boilers."

There were only three dormitories on campus back then, housing less than 300. "Today, we are capable of housing more than 3,000," he said.

The old power plant was replaced on Jan. 4, 1951, with a new facility, a building that Seyer and other university workers constructed.

The new plant provided a great improvement in electrical power, Seyer said.

One of the major complaints of women living in the dormitories in 1949-1950 was the fact that there was not enough electricity. In those days lights were cut off at 11 p.m. in the dormitory rooms, according to news accounts.

The new power plant provided no shortage of electricity for the campus.

Air conditioning was non-existent on campus in 1949. The first air conditioning on campus was a window unit installed in the president's home, recalled Seyer.

In addition to his other duties, Seyer drove a university bus from 1959 to 1963, transporting the athletic teams to their games. "I hauled the first baseball team," he proudly remembered.

In the 1950s, the work crew at Southeast was a two-family affair, with Seyer and his brother, Oscar, handling the carpentry duties and another brother duo handling the laborer duties.

In those days much of the work was done with little supervision. "You had to be a self-starter," said Seyer.

As physical plant director, Seyer had to oversee the tough task of digging out the campus in the aftermath of the Feb. 25, 1979, blizzard, which paralyzed the Cape Girardeau area.

The blizzard destroyed a 28,000-square-foot, air-inflated structure or bubble, collapsing it beyond repair.

Physical plant employees who were on campus worked virtually around the clock during the ordeal. "We brought beds into the power plant and wouldn't let anyone go home."

On the lighter side, Seyer said he remembers metal cross-ties that were placed in front of Memorial Hall as part of a sculpture created by a member of the art faculty at Southeast.

But some physical plant employees didn't realize the metal cross ties were art and not scrap. "A couple of my crew members thought they were doing a good thing and picked it up and took it to a scrap pile."

Fortunately, it was recovered in time. "We had to do a lot of apologizing on that one," said Seyer.

But over his career, Seyer said he has been proud of the efforts of the physical plant crews in keeping the campus running smoothly.

"Our big job is behind closed doors," he said. "You can't get anybody to put a plaque on a smokestack." But, he said, "We know why we are here."

Whether it's dealing with low water pressure, renovating a building or setting up for commencement ceremonies, Seyer said the physical plant employees can be counted upon.

"We are service oriented," said Seyer. "There's a lot of pride."