Ward Francis Seeley
SEELEY, Ward Francis, physician, was born in Mayville, Mich., Feb. 18, 1888, son of Arthur Lewis and Hollis (Charlton) Seeley. His father was a physician. Ward F. Seeley completed his preliminary education at public schools in his native community, attended Albion (Mich) College, and was graduated B.A. in 1909 and M.D. in 1911 at the University of Michigan. He served a residency at University Hospital, Ann Arbor, Mich., and later in 1911 joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, serving as an instructor in obstetrics and gynecology until 1915. From the following year until the close of his life he practiced in Detroit, Mich., as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology. At the time of his death he was senior obstetrician and gynecologist at Harper Hospital, Detroit, which he also served for a time as chief of staff, and consulting obstetrician and gynecologist at the Receiving Hospital of the City of Detroit and Florence Crittenton and Herman Kiefer hospitals, all of Detroit. For many years he was also associated with the Dearborn Medical Centre and Oakwood hospitals, both of Dearborn. Besides his medical practice, Seeley devoted many years to teaching. In 1916 he became a faculty member of the Detroit College of Medicine and Surgery later part of Wayne State University. Serving as an instructor in obstetrics and gynecology for a time, he advanced to professor of those subjects and was made chairman of the department in 1937. He resigned as chairman in 1947 but retained an appointment as clinical professor thereafter until his death. During the First World War he served overseas as a major in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and was stationed at Base Hospital No. 33 in France. A member of the board of governors of the American College of Surgeons, Seeley also was a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and a member of the American Medical Association, the American and Central associations of obstetricians and gynecologists, Wayne County and Michigan State medical societies, the Masonic order, and the Plum Hollow Golf and Detroit Athletic clubs of Detroit. His religious affiliation was with the Methodist church. Politically he was a Republican. For recreation he enjoyed reading, fishing and hunting. He was married in Hillsdale, Mich., June 11, 1913, to Marion, daughter of Samuel E. Dickinson of Branch County, Mich., a farmer, and had two children, John Dickinson; and Martha Ann, who married James C. Robinson. Ward F. Seeley’s death occurred in East Tawas, Mich., Aug. 22, 1960.
Page 139, “National Cyclopedia of American Biography” . (NY: J.T. White, 1898-1984).