Mrs. Kate Seelye; former teacher
Mrs. Kate Chambers Seelye, widow of a former president of St. Lawrence University, Laurens H. Seelye, died yesterday in a Syracuse nursing home following major spinal surgery.
Mrs. Seelye, 84, was a resident of New York City. She was born in Erzeum, Turkey in 1889, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. William Nesbitt Chambers of Woodstock, Ont., Canada. Mrs. Chambers’ home had been in Utica. They were American missionaries under the American Board of Foreign Missions. She was Cornelia Williams before her marriage.
Mrs. Seelye is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Dorothea Franck of 302 Berkeley Dr., Syracuse; Miss Mary Averett Seelye of Washington, D.C., and Mrs. Muriel Heineman of Baltimore, Md.; a son, Talcott W. Seelye, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey; eight grandchildren and a sister, Mrs. Donald C. Blaisdell of New York and Laurel, Md.
Contributions may be made to the American Turkish Society, 320 Madison Ave., New York City.
Mrs. Seelye was graduated from Bryn Mawr College and received a doctor of philosophy degree in the history of religions at Columbia University.
The Seelyes were associated with the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, from 1919 to 1933 where she taught child guidance at the American Junior College for girls.
The Seelyes moved to Canton in 1936, where Prof. Seelye became president of St. Lawrence University. At the outbreak of World War II, they moved to Istanbul, Turkey. Mrs. Seelye taught American literature and English at the American College for girls in Istanbul for 14 years. For a year she was a visiting professor of American literature at the University of Istanbul.
After their retirement in 1957, the Seelyes were associated with Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., and Colby College in Waterville, Maine.
Mrs. Seelye had lived in New York since the death of her husband in 1960.
She was active in the YWCA. She was a member of the boards of directors of the Graduates of the American Colleges of Istanbul, the American Middle East Relief and the American Turkish Society. She served as program chairman of the latter this year.
A memorial service will be held later in New York at the convenience of the family.
Published in the Syracuse Herald Journal, June 1, 1973, page 30
Dr. Kate Seelye
A memorial service in the form of a celebration of the life of Dr. Kate Chambers Seelye will be held in the chapel of Union Theological Seminary in New York City Oct. 6 at 3 p.m. She died in Syracuse May 31, 1973.
Dr. Seelye’s daughters, Mrs. Dorothea Seelye Franck of Syracuse and Miss Mary-Averett Seelye of Washington, D.C. and Muriel Seelye Heineman of Baltimore, Md. Invite friends to attend the service. The Rev. Harry Dorman of Orient, L.I. will officiate.
Dr. Seelye was born in Erzerum, Turkey in 1889. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1911 and received a Ph. D. degree in the history of religions from Columbia University.
Other survivors include a son, Talcott Williams Seelye, U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, a sister, Mrs. Dorothea Chambers Blaisdell of New York, a granddaughter, Karen A. Franck of New York, and seven other grandchildren.
Dr. Seelye was married to the late Laurens Hickok Seelye, who was president of St. Lawrence University, in the Chapel of union Theological Seminary in 1915.
Published in the Syracuse Herald Journal, September 25, 1973 page 22
[Wife of Great-grandson of SGS # 2056 - Laurens Hickok; William James; Julius Hawley; Seth (#2056); Nathan; Seth; Nathan; James; Nathaniel; Nathaniel; Robert]
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