Mary Louise and Her Family 2014
11 April 1930 – 9 August 2016
Mary Louise Madsen was born to Willis Neil (1903-1934) and Louise Dolorus Frandsen Madsen (1907-2002) in Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete, Utah, on 11 April 1930.
Mary Louise’s father died when she was 4 ½ years old. Her mother remarried when she was 6 years old. Justus Olson Seely (1895-1981) and her mother presented her with a brother Justus Frandsen Seely (1941-2002).
Mary Louise married Oleen Seamons 2 September 1950 in her childhood home in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. Mary Louise and Oleen were blessed with four children: Debra Anne, Randall M, Sherri Lou, and Jerry Oleen. The marriage was later solemnized and the children were sealed to their parents in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. Oleen and Mary Louise later divorced.
Mary Louise attended Hamilton Elementary School where she was the twirler for the band from second through sixth grades. She continued twirling during her junior and senior high school years. Mary Louise graduated from North Sanpete High School where she served on the yearbook staff. She earned her associate degree in business from Utah State University (USU). She returned to school later in life to earn her bachelor’s degree in history from Brigham Young University (BYU).
Mary Louise was Mt. Pleasant’s Centennial queen in 1947 and was a participant at the first Utah Girls’ State that same year in Logan, Cache, Utah.
Mary Louise’s first job while a high school student was at the turkey plant in Moroni, Sanpete, Utah. During her early married life, she worked as secretary for Vera C. O’Leary at Twin Falls Junior High (later O’Leary Junior High) until the birth of her first daughter. She also worked as a secretary at the Beneficial Life Insurance Company office in Twin Falls, Twin Falls, Idaho. After moving to Orem, Utah, Utah, she accepted a job as production secretary at the BYU Motion Picture Studio. She later transferred to the Education Department at BYU where she worked as the department secretary and completed her career as an advisor to the elementary education students.
Mary Louise was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving as organist in her seminary class and the Primary and Jr. Sunday School organizations and ward librarian in Twin Falls. She used her secretarial skills to type the ward bulletins for her ward there and served as secretary to one of her bishops in Orem. She was an avid genealogist. Her family stories regularly appeared in the “Saga of the Sanpitch”, a writing contest in Sanpete County, Utah, from 1969-1998 and she wrote and published a book about her maternal grandparents (It Takes a Heap o’ Livin’).
Mary Louise belonged to book clubs in Idaho and was active in the PTA program when her children were in school. She was a member of several vocational organizations, a past president of Utah Valley Historical Society, and a lifelong member of Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the Mt. Pleasant Historical Society. During her retirement, she served as a volunteer at the BYU Museum of Art and as a poll worker. She traveled the world with her mother and later with close friends. Her children remember family trips closer to home.
Mary Louise passed away in the early morning hours of 9 August 2016. We appreciate the staff and administrators of Cascades of Orchard Park (formerly Orchard Park Post-Acute Rehab) who treated her with kindness and compassion and helped her to be comfortable during the last year and a half of her life.
Preceded in death by her parents and step-father, brother, a grandson, and two great grandsons. She is survived by her children: Debra Seamons (Orem, Utah), Randy/Cyndee Seamons(Glendale, Arizona), Sherri/Greg Kielsmeier (Draper, Utah), and Jerry/Lori Seamons (Eagle Mountain, Utah), fifteen grandchildren and thirty great grandchildren as well as her sister-in-law Averil Seely and many extended family members.
The family would like to extend a special thank you to all who came to visit our mother/grandmother while she was recovering at Orchard Park. She loved people and enjoyed having them come spend time with her.
Funeral services will be held at 10:00 am Saturday, August 27, 2016 with a viewing from 9:00-9:40 prior to the services at the Cherry Hill Stake Center, 1700 South 400 East in Orem, Utah. An additional viewing will be held from 6-8:00 pm Friday, August 26 at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State, Orem, Utah. Dedication of the grave and burial will take place in Mt. Pleasant City Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant, Utah following funeral services.
