Toshi Seeger, R.I.P.

July 10, 2013 5:08 PM

Toshi Seeger has passed. In the fullest sense of the word, the partner of Pete Seeger, and of some seventy years, has passed away. Pete once said that without Toshi, "the world would not turn nor the sun shine.” She was 91.
posted by Capt. Renault (49 comments total)

I keep thinking of June and Johnny.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:10 PM on July 10, 2013 [4 favorites]

My heart stopped for a second when I saw Pete Seeger's name in an obit post. I felt briefly relieved when I saw it wasn't him and then horribly, horribly sad when I realized it was his beloved Toshi.

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posted by elsietheeel at 5:12 PM on July 10, 2013 [4 favorites]

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posted by HuronBob at 5:17 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by figment of my conation at 5:21 PM on July 10, 2013

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posted by jgaiser at 5:24 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by gubo at 5:24 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by Bromius at 5:27 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by scody at 5:29 PM on July 10, 2013

Aw, no.

If you've not seen "Wasn't That a Time", a documentary about the Weavers, I recommend it. You learn pretty quickly that without Toshi, a very different Pete, I think.

link

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posted by allthinky at 5:30 PM on July 10, 2013 [6 favorites]

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posted by gwint at 5:30 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by Grumpy old geek at 5:34 PM on July 10, 2013

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posted by dog food sugar at 5:34 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by aquanaut at 5:35 PM on July 10, 2013

Condolences to Pete and his family.
posted by waitingtoderail at 5:36 PM on July 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

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posted by kentk at 5:42 PM on July 10, 2013

I've been dreading seeing Pete Seeger's name on an FPP recently (Tom Lehrer, too, for some reason), and like elsietheeel, I thought "Oh no!" when I saw it -- but, at the same time, 90-some-odd years, you know? What a life she lived, and what a life he continues to live.

Wasn't that a time, indeed.
posted by tzikeh at 5:44 PM on July 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

I am sorry for his loss, but I'm happy to see Pete Seeger still alive and kickin' at 94 years old.

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posted by KGMoney at 5:45 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:46 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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Listening to Union Maid, in both their honors.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 5:46 PM on July 10, 2013 [4 favorites]

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posted by beagle at 5:48 PM on July 10, 2013

So sad for Pete. She was a (the) beacon in his life.

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posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on July 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

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posted by Bistle at 6:00 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by Smart Dalek at 6:10 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

From the last link: "Toshi’s mother came from a family of well-to-do Virginians. Her father had emigrated from Japan; he worked for her mother’s family as a butler. The two fell in love, but could not marry in the U.S.; he would have been deported and she would have lost her citizenship. Pregnant, her mother fled to Munich, traveling with a girlfriend, and had her baby three months after she arrived there. Because she was born of a Japanese father, even though her mother was American, Toshi was not a citizen (the policy of a father’s citizenship determining the child’s only applied to Asians) and had to apply for American citizenship years later. Her mother returned to the U.S. when in 1922 it had become legal for them to marry, at least in the state of New York; Toshi was six months old."

Wow.

(Also, a sad note from the wikipedia article; the obit says they had three children, but Wikipedia says they had four: "Their first child, Peter Ōta Seeger, was born in 1944 and died at six months while Pete was deployed overseas. Pete never saw him.")
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:16 PM on July 10, 2013 [11 favorites]

Wow, reflections of what it's like to be a gay couple in current-day US.
posted by hippybear at 6:20 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by quazichimp at 6:22 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by Cash4Lead at 6:46 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by scruss at 6:50 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by whatideserve at 7:09 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by newdaddy at 7:15 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

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posted by jim in austin at 7:17 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't do the whole mourning/dot thing. But this is sad, especially since in the great tradition of long-term musical couples, it probably means that Pete is not far behind.
posted by mediocre at 7:17 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Wow, reflections of what it's like to be a gay couple in current-day US.

Apologies if there is something I am missing here.. but this comes off to me as an inappropriate appropriating of an unrelated memorial topic.
posted by mediocre at 7:20 PM on July 10, 2013

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posted by pernoctalian at 7:33 PM on July 10, 2013

mediocre: more just seeing echoes and rhymes, nothing more.
posted by hippybear at 7:39 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yup. Echos and rhymes.

Poor Pete.
posted by Floydd at 7:58 PM on July 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

I live in the same town as Pete and Toshi, in the Hudson Valley region of New York. He and Toshi would often appear at local events and festivals, and they've always been very active members of the community. Just a month ago, both of them came to our town's annual strawberry festival. There they were, sitting by the river with their plates of shortcake and his famous banjo leaning on a tree, relaxing before he played. They both looked so frail, and yet so very much alive. Just being, and being together. With his permission, I caught a quick photograph of them before leaving them be.

When I learned of her passing today, my heart broke for him. All of our hearts are breaking for him.
posted by flyingsquirrel at 8:15 PM on July 10, 2013 [27 favorites]

Thank you for that, flyingsquirrel.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:48 PM on July 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

hippybear: So sad for Pete. She was a (the) beacon in his life.

This made me smile, because the town we (me, as well as Pete and the late Toshi) live in is called Beacon.

July 20th would have been their 70th wedding anniversary.
posted by flyingsquirrel at 9:05 PM on July 10, 2013 [2 favorites]

I feel so sad for Pete Seeger's loss. His music was part of my growing up. The last time I heard a song of his was in the dead of night on the radio, somwhere in Dalmacija. It was 'Joe Hill'
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:44 PM on July 10, 2013 [3 favorites]

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posted by drhydro at 11:32 PM on July 10, 2013

Bless them both.
posted by jokeefe at 12:16 AM on July 11, 2013

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posted by spinturtle at 5:05 AM on July 11, 2013

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posted by zaelic at 6:09 AM on July 11, 2013

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posted by Obscure Reference at 7:58 AM on July 11, 2013

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posted by tuesdayschild at 8:35 AM on July 11, 2013

So sorry to read this. What a remarkable life she led.
posted by maurice at 9:22 AM on July 11, 2013

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posted by Wordwoman at 4:02 PM on July 11, 2013

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posted by epj at 6:42 PM on July 11, 2013