A wooden bench near the Seward Bandshell may appear to be an ordinary place to rest, but its story spans more than 80 years of music, craftsmanship and community service.
The recently restored bench is one of the original benches that once seated audiences attending concerts at the bandshell. Its renewal brought together the City of Seward, local businesses, volunteers, the Seward Municipal Band and three generations of a Seward family.
Before the early 1940s, the bandshell had no benches. Concertgoers stood on the concrete pad while listening to performances.
That changed in the mid-1940s, when Seward Street Superintendent Charlie McGrew designed and built forms for concrete bench supports. City employees then assembled wooden seats and backs for the benches.
Adrian “Deuce” Moravec and Lyle Mueller later used McGrew’s original forms to make additional supports. Hughes Bros., Inc. donated wood for the seats and backs twice during the following 60 years.
The benches served bandshell audiences for more than 65 years. Generations of Seward residents sat on them during summer concerts and community events, and visited with neighbors and gathered with family and friends while waiting for activities to begin.
In 2010, the aging wood-and-concrete benches were replaced with the evergreen, fusion-coated steel benches now located at the bandshell.
When the 2010 bench replacement occurred, one original bench was preserved and placed in the park on the south side of the bandshell. A plaque attached to the bench explained its history.
Over time, both the bench and its plaque became weathered. By the summer of 2026, the wood in the old bench needed to be replaced, and the plaque was difficult to read.
Seward Municipal Band Secretary Pat Herrold began working to restore the bench and preserve its story.
One of her first challenges was identifying “Deuce” Moravec. The original plaque included only his nickname, and Herrold was unable to determine his full name.
On a whim, she called Zabka-Perdue Funeral Home located in Seward near the bandshell to see whether anyone there might recognize the name.
The staff could not find a record for “Deuce,” but they did locate a record for Adrian Moravec. That discovery led Herrold to Tim Moravec, a lifelong Seward resident.
Tim confirmed that Adrian Moravec was his father and that he had been known as “Deuce.”
The conversation also revealed another connection.
When Herrold explained that the band needed a company to produce a replacement plaque, she learned that Tim works for Awards Unlimited in Lincoln.
The surprises for Herrold didn’t stop there. Tim mentioned that he met his wife at the bandshell when he went to concerts there as a young man—in fact, he had proposed to his wife on one of benches. And now, his son, Micah Moravec, is a percussionist that Herrold knows well—one of the primary percussionists in the Seward Municipal Band.
The grandson of one of the original bench builders now performs with the band whose audiences once sat on the benches his grandfather helped build and which were a part of his parents’ love story.
The benches were a community story, and the recent restoration was another community effort.
The band paid for the lumber, which was purchased from Seward Lumber. Kevin Soflin cut, planed and sanded the wood to create the new seat and back.
Members of Girl Scout Troop 20622 removed the deteriorated boards and installed the new wood. Tim Moravec designed and installed the replacement plaque.
The restored bench is already being used by visitors to the park.
Like the original bandshell benches, its restoration was accomplished through the combined efforts of local businesses, skilled craftspeople and community volunteers.
For those who stop to sit, the bench offers more than a place to rest. It serves as a reminder that a community’s history is often preserved through ordinary objects—and through the people who care enough to remember the stories behind them.
