‘Live On, Sailor’: Mobile Mother Honors Son Seth Beasley by Buying Birthday Cakes for Strangers, and Now 37 States Have Joined Her

Denise Webster walked into the Rouses Market bakery on Airport Boulevard in Mobile on Sept. 26, 2025, eager to see the cake she had ordered for her son Ezra’s 16th birthday. She knew he would love it. It had a “My Favorite Monster” theme.

“Here is your cake, ma’am,” the bakery worker told her. “Oh, and it’s been paid for.”

Along with the cake, Denise was handed an envelope with a business card attached. It read: “This random act of kindness was done in honor of Seth Paul Beasley. 9/26/1995 – 7/11/2015.”

Her heart melted, and her eyes filled with tears. She thanked the employee and carried the cake and the envelope home to Ezra.

Inside, Ezra found a signed birthday card and a typed letter introducing him to a young man named Seth Beasley. The letter came from Seth’s mother, Jamee Booth, who explained that she had paid for the cake because Ezra shared a birthday with her son. Seth, too, was born on Sept. 26. Tucked into the envelope were a postcard labeled “Live On Sailor” and a matching “Live On Sailor” bracelet.

It is a scene that has now played out in bakeries and grocery stores across the country.

Who Seth Beasley was

Seth Beasley was a Mobile native, intelligent and endlessly curious. He loved computers and electronics and the challenge of finding solutions to problems. He loved riding his motorcycle and the sense of freedom that came with the breeze.

His faith mattered to him, too. Inside his Bible were written the words: “Saved … May, 2014.”

“I had my children young. I found out I was expecting when I was 19 years old,” Jamee Booth said. “I have two sons, and while my youngest, Brannon, has always been independent, Seth was the son who needed me.”

At 19, Seth joined the U.S. Navy. Before he left for boot camp, mother and son shared one last meal together at Olive Garden. “Seth ordered calamari,” Jamee said. “He really loved calamari.”

Seth completed boot camp in March 2015. He had cleared a difficult hurdle, and he was young, strong and ready to serve his country.

July 11, 2015

On July 11, 2015, under bright, sunny skies, Seth was home on a short break from the Navy. He hopped on his motorcycle for a quick ride. About a mile from his father Shane’s house, he lost control and struck a power pole. No other vehicles were involved.

His father and brother performed CPR, but Seth could not be revived.

Jamee rushed to the hospital. Although her son was gone, she spoke to him and made him a promise.

“I told Seth I would do everything in my power to make sure he would never be forgotten,” she said. “I told him I would always say his name, and others would, too.”

Learning to live around the grief

The months that followed were long and painful.

“When it first happens, you are a mess, as your brain has never dealt with something like it,” Jamee said. “As time moves on, the pain never changes, but you learn to live your life around it.”

For Jamee, living around it meant finding a way for people to keep saying Seth’s name, and a way to honor him on his birthday every year.

Almost a year after Seth died, she stopped by the bakery at a Rouses grocery store with an unusual question.

“Do you have anyone picking up a birthday cake on Sept. 26?” she asked. “I told the person in the bakery I wanted to purchase the cake. I explained that Sept. 26 was my son’s birthday, and I wanted to honor him by buying a cake for someone who was born on Seth’s birthday.”

She left the bakery worker a birthday card with a letter inside, along with a postcard, to pass along to the family.

That first year, Jamee bought one cake. It brought her comfort in the middle of her grief.

“At first, I didn’t want to share my grief,” she said. “As Sept. 1 arrives each year, anxiety sets in, just as it did during holidays and other special days. In fact, the days leading up to Seth’s birthdays are actually worse than the actual day.”

As the years passed, she kept visiting Mobile-area stores every September. She paid for several cakes the second year, and more each year after that.

A Semmes family’s surprise

A few weeks ago, Ashley Crawley walked into the Publix supermarket at Semmes Village to pick up a birthday cake for her son, Jomiah, who was turning 16. She was told the cake had already been paid for.

“Some woman around here is paying for people’s birthday cakes,” an employee told her.

Ashley felt a lump in her throat as she took home the cake, along with a card, a note and a postcard telling her about Seth.

America joins the cause

When Jamee shared on social media what she was doing to honor her son, people far beyond Mobile responded.

The process is simple. People who see one of Jamee’s videos message her to say they want to buy a cake for someone at their local store or bakery. The recipient might be a relative, a friend or a complete stranger. Jamee quickly mails the buyer a card, a letter and a postcard, which the buyer passes along to the bakery staff. When the birthday cake’s recipient opens the envelope, they learn all about Seth Beasley.

Many tears are shed, and many memories of Seth are shared.

One of those cakes went to John Antone of Ellisville, Missouri, who celebrated his 101st birthday in late September, according to his daughter-in-law, Judy Antone.

“We had found the people at Schnuck’s Grocery who were able to make a special 101 Dalmatians cake for John’s 101st birthday,” Judy said. The cake was perfect, and so was the surprise. It had been paid for, and it came with a card, a letter and a postcard from Jamee Booth.

From 30 cakes to 74

Last year, 30 cakes were purchased in Seth’s honor. This year, ahead of what would have been his 31st birthday, Jamee asked her social media followers whether they could help her reach 31 cakes.

The response astounded her. As the day approached, Jamee herself had purchased 16 cakes, and she watched as dozens of others around the country bought cakes for people they had never met.

By the end of this year’s effort, a total of 74 birthday cakes had been purchased across the country, with people from 37 states stepping up to honor Seth. Many others have taken Jamee’s idea and started buying cakes for their own family members and friends on their birthdays.

Two mothers, one shared loss

Some of those connections have been especially profound.

Karen Langlois of Shorewood, Illinois, was surprised by her siblings on Sept. 26 with an 80th birthday party. Her cake arrived with a card and a postcard.

“Reading about Seth brought me to tears,” Karen said. “I still don’t know who paid for the cake. I supposed it was a stranger.”

The buyer may have been Amy Tannura of nearby Channahon, Illinois. Amy, who follows Jamee’s page and was turning 51 herself, decided to walk into a Jewel-Osco supermarket after seeing Jamee’s mission. Jamee had mailed her a card, letter and postcard to leave with the bakery workers.

“While I have never met her in person, I became drawn to her page,” Amy said. “I didn’t know whose cake I was paying for, but Karen lives close to me. I’m pretty sure it was Karen’s cake I purchased.”

For Karen, the gesture carried a meaning no one involved could have planned. In 2005, she suffered a loss much like Jamee’s.

“My son died in a motorcycle accident,” Karen said. Her son, Richard Schummer, was 36 when he died 21 years ago. “The cake and card mean so much to me after learning about Jamee’s loss.”

Saying their names every day

It has now been more than 11 years since Jamee Booth lost her 19-year-old son, just as he was beginning his service to his country. The pain has not gone away, but she says the annual cake purchases, now supported by kind people across America, help her cope.

Her mission has also grown beyond Seth. Each day on social media, Jamee recites the names of children who have died and shares a little about each of them. She keeps a spreadsheet to help track them. The list of names that parents have sent her now numbers more than 600.

Jamee is 50 years old. She prays she has many years ahead to keep honoring Seth, the son who was smart, inquisitive and compassionate, and many more years to keep saying his name.

And perhaps, somewhere, her son hears the words she whispers every day:

“Live On, Sailor. Live on.”

How to take part

People who would like to honor Seth Beasley by buying a birthday cake for someone born on Sept. 26 can reach out to Jamee Booth through her social media pages, where she shares her “Live On Sailor” mission. Many supporters have also adopted the idea in their own communities, quietly paying for a stranger’s birthday cake in memory of someone they love.