Mr. Stan Sieja, a familiar face on Delmarva, was lifted by angels from his easy chair in northeastern Wisconsin on May 22, after a long day of farming corn. Stan was 75. His life revolved around travel adventures, agricultural flying, his Catholic faith, and the family farm. A former Marine captain, he landed jets on aircraft carriers in the early 1970s. He was an agricultural pilot for many years on the Eastern Shore and at Chorman’s Spraying in Delaware, where he was due to fly this summer.
On an icy day in 1985, Stan departed Onancock Creek on a 26’ sailboat purchased from local banker George Schoolfield. He spent four years sailing around the world with no modern gadgets. A few years later, he took off from Johnson’s airstrip in Onancock in a 1946 Piper and flew around the world, again with no modern technology.
Following more crop spraying stints and farming, he drove halfway around the world in a 1950s Willy’s Jeep, completing that trip on a 1977 Harley-Davidson now on display in a North Carolina museum.
In 2017 Stan departed Cape Charles for a six-week sail to Portugal, encountering three hurricanes. Friends on the Shore and in Virginia Beach reported him missing to the Coast Guard. When asked what safety equipment he had on board, his friend Mary responded, “A rosary, a Bible and a flashlight.” He was late for the religious event he planned to attend, so he turned around and spent another six weeks sailing back to Cape Charles, where he checked into a local B&B for a good night’s rest.
Stan wrote three books, still undistributed, about his round-the-world journeys. While Stan was known as “Farmer Stan” in rural Wisconsin, in Delaware he was referred to as “Stanley Super Sonic Sieja.”
He is survived by four siblings and admiring friends around the world who loved to hear his stories.
Arrangements were handled by Roubal Funeral Home with a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Wausaukee, Wis.
