Mary Seelye

Mary Ann Scott Clark Seelye 88, October 12 at Emeritus Creekside Lodge in San Pablo. Born in Jefferson, North Carolina, daughter of the late Bertha Alice Stanbury and William Lee Scott, she grew up in North Carolina, studied at Women's College UNC, and worked as a journalist in Winston Salem before marrying Professor John Alden Clark in 1943. They settled in 1946 in Waterville, Maine, where their partnership provided support for the Colby College community for 25 years. They lived with their family on sabbaticals in Scotland and India, and during summers in Georgetown, Maine. Mary earned an MA in English from the University of Maine, and taught reading in Waterville schools. Widowed in 1974, she married Dr. Edwin (Barry) Seelye in 1981, and moved with him to Berkeley CA in 1983. There she became active in quilting and poetry groups and in West-East, supporting the founding of a Center for the Study of World Religions. Widowed again in 1988, she was resilient in her later years at Strawberry Creek Lodge in Berkeley. Known for her love of language, literature, and word games, she was a warm communicator with family and friends. She was a member of the Berkeley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, where friends joined her in a farewell party when her death became imminent. She was predeceased by two brothers, William Scott and James Scott, a sister, Alice Armfield, and step-daughter Alison Howard of Berkeley CA. She is survived by two sisters, Rachel Jones of Atlanta GA and Nancy Whisnant of Greensboro NC. She leaves three children, Alice Clark of El Cerrito CA, Evelyn Farbman of Middletown CT, and Alden Clark of Bath ME, and step-daughter Anne Barrows of Berkeley CA, and their partners and families. She will be remembered with love by her grandchildren Herschel Farbman, Christa Chapman, Tess Taylor, Daniel Farbman, Emily Clark, Joanna Taylor, and Mary Clark, and their partners and families, including three great-grandchildren. Numerous nieces and nephews and their families lovingly honor her memory, as do her many friends in the communities where she lived. There will be a later memorial service in Georgetown ME.