LOU ANN SEELY of Bloomfield Hills and Bay View, Michigan, died February 19, 2009. A Memorial Service will be held at 1:00p.m. on Thursday, April 16, at the First United Methodist Church of Birmingham.
Detroit Free Press (MI) - April 12, 2009
Lou Ann Seely of Bloomfield Hills and Bay View, Mich., died Feb. 19, 2009, at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital following a stroke at her home.
Lou Ann was born July 7, 1927, in Detroit, the daughter of Ralph and Helen Garber. She spoke fondly of her growing up years on Longfellow, riding the streetcars and going to Hudson’s department store. She graduated from Detroit Northern High School in 1945. Then she followed the path of her mother and father by attending Albion College. She was a member of Alpha Chi Sorority and received her teaching degree, graduating in January 1949.
Lou Ann cherished the day she met John Seely, a student who had returned to Albion after serving in World War II, while walking across campus. Their romance bloomed when they both took summer classes in Bay View. As sweethearts, they shared a love that lasted a lifetime.
Lou Ann and John were married on April 16, 1949, at Central Woodward Christian Church in Detroit. She taught second-grade at York Elementary School in Dearborn for six years. As a mother, she devoted her life to her three daughters. She and her husband did their best to provide a wonderful and stable childhood for their girls; in the home they built in Bloomfield Hills and summers spent in Bay View at the cottage bought in 1959. Lou Ann and John enjoyed many long-term friendships in the two communities. Family and friends will miss her quick wit, loyalty, softness, laughter and generosity.
As a grandmother of five grandsons and one granddaughter, she adored them with enthusiasm, patience and a sense of wonder. She valued a friendly conversation, a thoughtfully written note, and hearing a good speaker. Known as an excellent public speaker herself, she also enjoyed reading and was a whiz at crossword puzzles. Lou Ann took great pleasure in the celebrations of life including graduations, weddings, baptisms, anniversaries and any occasion to wear high heels.
Lou Ann was a faithful member of the First United Methodist Church of Birmingham for 56 years and with her husband enjoyed the fellowship groups of Tandems and Charlie’s Angels. Throughout her life, she was active in several women’s organizations including Northern Michigan Panhellenic, Bay View Woman’s Council, Steeple Stock investment group and the Foxcroft Women’s Club. She served as Regent of the Piety Hill chapter of D.A.R. and attended many National Conventions in Washington, D.C., with her friends.
Lou Ann was preceded in death by her husband, John, on Nov. 10, 2007. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Cathy and David Meyer of Petoskey, Marcia and Frank Carone of Clarkston, Jane and Jon Parnell of Spring Lake; and grandchildren, Emerson, Jonathan and Laura Meyer, Cory Carone and Nic and Will Parnell. Also surviving are her brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Marianne Garber, and sister, Barbara Jean Cato, and her nephews and nieces.
A memorial service will take place Thursday, April 16, at the First United Methodist Church of Birmingham. Her ashes will be interred in the Bay View Memorial Garden in June.
Published in the Petoskey News-Review, Friday, February 27, 2009
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