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Charlie Oliver Sealy

Personal

Gender: Male

Date of Death: January 10, 2010

Birth Place: Ralph AL

Death Place: Tuscaloosa, AL

Charlie Oliver Sealy Sr.


TUSCALOOSA Charlie Oliver Sealy, Sr., age 90, of Tuscaloosa died Sunday, January 10, 2010 at DCH Regional Medical Center. Visitation will be today from 12 noon to 2 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, with services to follow at 2:00 p.m. with Dr. Tim Lovett and Frank Jones officiating. Graveside services will follow at Tuscaloosa Memorial Park.

Mr. Sealy was preceded in death by his mother Mary McKinney Sealy, father Charlie Earl Sealy, and a sister Kathleen Sealy.

He is survived by his wife, Virginia Ray Sealy, a son Charles Sealy Jr, (Debra); daughter, Gina Sealy Miers; grandchildren, Charlie O. Sealy III (Sasha), Jennifer Lamon Pass (Dave), Christina Sealy, and Maria Sealy.

Mr. Sealy was born and raised in Ralph Al. to humble beginnings. After graduation from Tuscaloosa County High School and five years of service in WWII, where he was wounded in action, he returned home to Tuscaloosa where he began a remarkable career in real estate development, which spanned six decades.

Alongside his son Charles Jr., daughter, Gina, grandson, Charlie III, The Sealy Companies owned, built and managed over 8500 apartment homes in four states including Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina.

Mr. Sealy actually began his business career at Bridgers Lumber Company where he was a salesman. He began building houses on the side to help meet the booming demand of returning soldiers and their brides looking to start a family. Helping the common man realize home ownership for the first time was something, which gave him great joy. If a workingman could not get proper financing, Mr. Sealy would regularly step in and owner finance to make ownership possible. He eventually built hundreds, possibly thousands of homes and played a vital role in the development of dozens of subdivisions around West Alabama.

In addition to homebuilding and apartment development, Mr. Sealy was involved in the insurance, banking, and, environmental services industries.

Recognizing the rapid pace of change in these various industries, Mr. Sealy constantly attended meetings, seminars and conferences all in an effort to remain a leader and stay on the cutting edge. He remained unselfish with knowledge and information and was always willing to share with others who shared a vision for a better West Alabama.

Mr. Sealy held numerous positions of leadership in a number of different organizations in our community.

He was a Charter Member of the Homebuilders of Tuscaloosa. In addition to holding every possible office including National Director, he was inducted into the HBAT Hall of Fame.

The same thing could be said for the Alabama Real Estate Association where he served in nearly every possible capacity including President and National Director.

Mr. Sealy was instrumental in the formation of the Industrial Development Authority. He was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of this initiative.

Charged with the task of raising the funds necessary to purchase the land, the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Park exists today because of his tireless efforts and those of others. He served as Chairman and Director of the Authority, which has successfully recruited thousands of jobs to our community since that time.

In 1981, Mr. Sealy was appointed Chairman of the Original City Commission, which allocated funds for the revitalization of the downtown area and street scraping. He was named the Northport Outstanding Business Leader in 2004 and received the Pillars of West Alabama Award presented by the Community Foundation of West Alabama in 2005.

He was Foundation Director of DCH Regional Medical Center, and the Tuscaloosa County High School Outstanding Alumnus of the Year 1989.

In addition, he was a founder of Sealy Realty Co., Sealy Insurance Agency, Security Federal Savings and Loan, Peoples Bank of Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa Waste Removal, and Rumsey Environmental.

Mr. Sealy was ordained as a Deacon and served many years actively at Forest Lake Baptist Church and Calvary Baptist where he and his wife Virginia have been members for over thirty-five years. He served as Executive Board member for the Alabama Baptist State Convention where he was instrumental in obtaining 130 acres of land for Camp Tuscoba, which is utilized recreationally today by the Tuscaloosa Baptist Association Youth.

In spite of all his business and community accomplishments, Mr. Sealy remained faithful to his first love, his wife of 63 years, Virginia and his family.

He loved the outdoors and spending time at his farm in Fosters. Many close to Mr. Sealy believe this love really stemmed from the joy of seeing his family spend time together and remain close. He loved to see them enjoying themselves. Family Fish Fry’s on the back patio, the gleam in the eye of a grandchild after catching their first bream, the taking of a “first” deer or just trading stories around the campfire. These were the special moments in Mr. Sealy’s life.

Pallbearers will be David Watson, Steve Kennedy, Sammy Swindle, Steven Rumsey, Tom Joiner, Dave Pass, Timo Stradinger, Al Cabaniss, and Jimmy Yarbrough.

Honorary pallbearers are employees of Sealy, employees of Rumsey Environmental, employees of Sealy Furniture, residents of Capstone Village, Williams-Davis Sunday School Class, Nurses at NPHC HomeCare Services, Dr. John Summerford, Dr. Steven Helm, Dr. Jeffrey Anderson, Buna and Buddy Wooodruff, Joe and Molly Dubose, Diane and Bill Robbins, Laura and Patrick McKane, Lynn Beville, Donna Herron, Jim and Sue Phillips, Virginia Joiner, and the Wiggins family, Jackie Cummings, Jeb Green, employees of Tanner and Guin, Reese Pugh, and all his military buddies.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials be made to Calvary Baptist Church.

Published in Tuscaloosa News from January 12 to January 13, 2010

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