Harry Beverley Sefton

Nancy Ogden Westerdahl’s Great Uncle

Harry Beverly Sefton, one of Gettysburg’s best known and best liked residents, was a barber in Gettysburg for forty years. 

Endowed with a genial disposition and a quick wit, “Reddy” as he was known to his thousands of customers, had the knack of making and holding friendships. It was said of him that he was one person in Gettysburg who did not have an enemy. People also remarked that Reddy always looked on the funny side of life.

Initially, Reddy’s barber shop was in a building in the first block of Baltimore Street on the site of the Citizen’s Trust Company. In 1917, he moved his shop across the street from the bank, in what ultimately became the Varsity Barber Shop where Bruce had his hair cut until he went in the Marine Corps in 1952. 

Patronized by many college and high school students, Reddy took a keen interest in the athletic activities of these schools.

The Citizen’s Trust Bank that Reddy left later became the Teen Canteen, and it was there on February 21, 1948 that Bruce fell in love with Nancy.

Reddy was an ardent fisherman and whenever the opportunity presented itself, he would leave work and worry behind and fish a local stream for trout or bass.  

Harry Beverley Sefton was born in Gettysburg February 2, 1869, a son of Josiah and Martha Sefton, Nancy’s great grandparents. He was the brother of Charles, Edgar Brooks, Ivy Myrtle, (Nancy’s grandmother) Clelia Cuba, Paper B., Minna C., and Virgia who died when she was just a few days old.

Bruce