HENDERSONVILLE—James “Jim” Sieminski, 72, and his two dogs were at his home on Bearwallow Road in Hendersonville when Tropical Storm Helene hit Western North Carolina on September 27.
He was found dead when the waters receded on September 28; A medical examiner’s report indicates he died by drowning.
Sieminski was born on June 24, 1952. According to records he posted online, Sieminski was from North Massapequa, New York, on Long Island.
“My mother was a terrible cook,” Jim’s brother, Tom Sieminski, recalled in a phone conversation with the Hendersonville Times-News. When Jim was 9 or 10, he called their mother at work and asked how to make sauce, and when their parents got home he had a spaghetti dinner ready, Tom said.
“I saw a bowl of cherries on a kitchen table, and then I went outside to play ball, and I came home looking for the bowl of cherries, and they were gone,” Tom recalled. Jim would have made a cake. “It was almost a hobby for him,” Tom said.
Jim attended Seton Hall High School and graduated from Stonehill College in 1974.
Jim Sieminski’s college yearbook photo
“He was the kind of guy who was friends with everyone,” said Susan Pawlak-Seaman, who was in Jim’s class of about 400 students at Stonehill. His nickname there was “Flash,” she said, but none of their mutual friends could remember why. He was “always kind, always friendly. Always someone to say hello when we crossed paths in class or on campus.”
When Tom opened a bar and restaurant, Jim became a chef and received so many compliments that he was inspired to attend the Culinary Institute of America.
“His first job was at the 21 Club in Manhattan,” Tom said, referring to the once-speakeasy that became famous during the Prohibition Era and was a New York City culinary landmark for years.
Jim later opened his own restaurant, called The Silver Spoon, on Long Island. With an idea that was way ahead of its time, he converted the restaurant into a takeaway restaurant serving gourmet dishes.
When he developed severe appendicitis, a doctor advised him not to stand for more than three hours at a time. He retired as a chef and moved to Hendersonville.
“He loved it there,” Tom said.
More: The official death toll associated with NC Helene rises to 103 after the fatal crash in Yancey County
Jim worked at the Biltmore Estate, for Enterprise Rent-A-Car at the Asheville Airport and as a wine steward at Burntshirt Vineyards. He took his late mother into his home and cared for her before she passed away. He adopted four dogs during his years in Hendersonville.
“My brother had the biggest heart of anyone I know,” Tom said. “He was cheerful, loved to laugh, loved to joke and loved to be with my mother.” Jim was not married and had no children.
Jim stopped working after breaking his arm while adjusting umbrellas on an outdoor table at the winery, and survived a cancer scare in 2023, Tom said.
Jim Sieminski, right, with his mother and brother Tom.
Online, he warned people to stay safe as Tropical Storm Helene approached western North Carolina. The last thing he shared was a video saying: “Hunker down, huns! Helene ain’t playing!”
“Jimmy was a talented chef, a devoted son and a passionate animal champion,” his cousin, Dede Argento-Heron, told the Times-News via email. “He faced some difficult health issues related to lung cancer and became a survivor living his best life in the beautiful community of Hendersonville.
“He finally found where he needed to be and was taken from us too soon.”
Pawlak-Seaman said classmates from Stonehill felt deeply affected by Jim’s death.
“So random. So unfair,” she said. “Although I hadn’t really been in touch with him since our graduation in 1974, a Facebook group started last May for our class’s 50th reunion reconnected many of us, including Jim. I’m there grateful for. And heartbroken for his loss.”
Jim Sieminski’s home on Bearwallow Road in Hendersonville, photographed on Nov. 21, 2024. Sieminski’s body was found in the home days after Tropical Storm Helene.
Tom said on November 20 that he had just learned that Jim’s dogs had been rescued from the storm damage.
“They were adopted by families and neighbors who wanted to pay tribute to my brother,” he said. “Everyone loved him so much – that now they want to take care of his dogs.”
Jim Sieminski is survived by his brother and two nieces, Erin Sieminski and Meagan Hayden.
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Deirdra Funcheon covers Henderson, Polk and Transylvania counties for the Hendersonville Times-News. Do you have a tip? Email her at DFuncheon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on the Hendersonville Times-News: Jim Sieminski of Hendersonville died during the tropical storm
