Dan Edwin Calfee

Dan Edwin Calfee passed away February 15, 2024, in Brownfield, Texas.

Dan was born April 18, 1942, in Seagraves, Texas to Edwin Dee Calfee and Opal Perry Calfee. He attended school in Seagraves and after graduation in 1960, went to TCU. There he made friends with some baseball players and became a manager of the baseball team. He graduated with a degree in Business Administration and went home to Seagraves and worked for a while for the Calfee Oil Company. There was not enough to do there, so he took a job teaching business at Loop High School. He became a class sponsor and led senior trips to San Francisco and New Orleans.

After WW2 Dan’s Grandfather, Father and a family friend built a cabin in Ruidoso in the upper canyon near the Indian Reservation. Dan spent a lot of time there growing up and later with friends. He was very generous with the cabin and hosted 3 generations of cousins, many friends, and groups of boys from Seagraves and Loop for skiing, bob sledding, and numerous summer adventures. In later years, when the weather was good, he enjoyed flying up to Ruidoso in his Bonanza.

When Dan’s father retired, he went back to Calfee Oil Company for a few years, but the business had changed, and he sold the company and went back to his real love which was teaching. He worked at Seagraves High until he retired, finishing up as the technology coordinator. As a sideline he cooked barbecue for the faculty and staff each year to celebrate the end of school.

Dan seemed to collect kids from the schools as he went along. He always had stories about the kids he picked up or who picked him up and he kept in touch with them for years after. Dan was very good at making friends and keeping up with them.

Dan was head of the county EMS for several years. He was a longtime member and President of the Rotary club. He was president of the board of directors for 21 years. He received Rotary Club’s highest award, the Paul Harris Fellow.

He was helpful in the founding and on the board at the Seagraves Museum. His ‘baby’ was the 1938 fire truck, and Dan could always be counted on to drive it in any parade, often carrying student groups. He hosted many school groups at the Museum, and usually finished the tour with a ride for everyone in the fire truck.

Dan was an elder in the Seagraves Presbyterian Church and when it merged with the Seminole Presbyterian church, he became an elder there. He played the organ for the Sunday services. He never claimed to be a good organist, just the only one they could find most of the time.

Dan had a Bonanza airplane and loved to fly. With his buddies, he spent hours at the airport, and participated in many fly ins around Texas. He attended Oshkosh several times.

Many people felt that they were Dan’s best friend, or that Dan was an honorary member of their family. He often said that he didn’t know everybody in Seagraves, but almost everybody in Seagraves knew Dan. He will be greatly missed.

There will be a graveside service at the Seagraves Cemetery on Friday, March 8 at 11:00 am, followed by a reception at the Seagraves Museum on Main Street. In lieu of flowers Dan suggested donations to the Seagraves Museum or the charity of your choice.

In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Museum of Seagraves

Seagraves -Loop Museum and Art Center

P.O. Box 1387

Seagraves, Texas 79359

Physical Address 201 Main Street

(806) 546-2810