Goodyear co-founder’s grandson Ned Handy dies at 100
Ned Handy, a member of Akron’s “royal family,” has died at age 100.
The World War II veteran was a grandson of Goodyear Tire & Rubber co-founder F.A. Seiberling and his wife, Gertrude. His parents were Virginia Seiberling and John Littlefield "Jack" Handy.
He passed away peacefully Feb. 27 in Massachusetts after a brief illness.
“Sometimes I am led to wonder whether in all the world there lives and breathes a family as wonderful as the Seiberlings,” Handy wrote his grandfather in a 1946 letter. “But whether or not, this is certain — that I count myself born under a very kindly star to be one of the great clan and would not trade places with anybody.”
The Seiberlings’ youngest daughter, Virginia, married Jack, a broker, in the sunken gardens of Stan Hywet, the family’s residence, on Oct. 4, 1919. According to the Beacon Journal, “the wedding was without a doubt the most picturesque and the most beautiful one ever solemnized in this city.”
The couple divided their time among New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Edward Adino “Ned” Handy, the second of six children, was born Sept. 29, 1922, in Riverside, Connecticut.
Handy had fond memories of visiting Akron as a child. To his youthful eyes, the Stan Hywet dining room was like King Arthur’s court.
He and his family spent many a snowy Christmas at Stan Hywet.
Handy appeared in the 1940 play "A Christmas Carol," whose photos have been featured in "Deck the Hall" displays, and he is pictured in 1938, 1945 and 1946 Christmas portraits with other grandchildren, according to Akron relative Harriet Chapman, whose mother, Mary Seiberling Chapman, was a first cousin of Handy.
One of Handy’s favorite teenage memories was when he gave bookends to his grandfather for his 80th birthday in 1939. He had built them from wood at his home in Barnstable, Massachusetts.
“Cape Cod pine, Cape Cod pine,” Seiberling mused as he lovingly placed the bookends on a Stan Hywet shelf.
Handy graduated in 1940 from Milton Academy in Massachusetts and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in April 1942 while working in Stamford, Connecticut.
He was serving as a turret gunner and flight engineer aboard a B-24 Liberator when it was shot down over Germany in 1944.
F.A. Seiberling was notified that his grandson was missing in action. In fact, Handy had been taken captive with his crew.
“We never thought of being prisoners of war,” Handy once told an interviewer. “We thought of either living or dying. So it came to all of us as a surprise that we were shot down but we didn’t die. We survived.”
Handy was held for 13 months at Stalag 17, the notorious German prisoner-of-war camp that inspired the 1953 Hollywood movie “Stalag 17” starring William Holden.
It also served as the inspiration for the 1960s TV comedy “Hogan’s Heroes,” which was set at Stalag 13.
“I was advised never to look at ‘Hogan’s Heroes,’ ” he said.
Following his liberation from the camp, Handy visited Akron in December 1945 to see his grandparents. He took a Christmas portrait at Stan Hywet with his cousin John F. Seiberling Jr., the future U.S. congressman, and uncle Franklin Seiberling, all of whom served in the war.
Handy kept secret notes at the prison camp, which later inspired him to write a memoir, “The Flame Keepers,” published in 2004. He came to Stan Hywet in 2005 for a book signing and talk.
“His wartime memoir is a gripping, well told story about how phenomenal young American men found the will and ability to survive starvation and freezing temperatures, and to save others' lives,” Chapman said.
He was interviewed for a feature on the 50th anniversary DVD for the movie “Stalag 17.”
Handy attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the GI Bill and graduated in 1951 with a degree in city planning. His work as a city planner took him around the world.
In November 2022, Handy celebrated 70 years of marriage with his wife, Margaret, whom he met in Providence, Rhode Island, during his first job out of college. They had one daughter: Jenifer.
He died in their company Feb. 27.
Handy was one of the last living former POWs of World War II.
Of 21 Seiberling grandchildren, he was one of only six remaining. His sister Sylvia Bowman is among the survivors.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Memorial contributions can be made to Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens.
Chapman described her cousin as “a truly great and humble man.”
“Ned's life is an amazing one, and I shall miss him the rest of my days,” she said.
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Goodyear co-founder’s grandson Ned Handy dies at 100
