Harley R. Seeley
Personal
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: January 15, 1904
Date of Death: May 21, 1954
Birth Place: Battle Creek, MI
Death Place: Battle Creek, MI
Harley R. Seeley
Harley Seeley Is Dead at 50
Harley R. Seeley, 50, of 77 Woodward Ave., a Prudential Insurance Co. agent here since 1942, died at 5:30 p.m. yesterday in a local hospital, where he had been a patient since Sunday. He had been in failing health for three years. An ardent sports enthusiast all his life, Mr. Seeley helped to organize the first church league basketball and baseball teams here in the early 1920’s, while he was a member of a Maple Methodist Church group called the “Eronians.”
Lead to Present Leagues
Because of their enthusiasm for the games, the church league was formed and these activities led later to the formation of the Civic Recreation basketball and baseball teams, on which Mr. Seeley also played.
Mr. Seeley, until he was stopped by illness about two years ago, was an ardent hunter and fisher, and always was a close follower of baseball.
A native of Battle Creek, he was born Jan. 15, 1904, the son of Ruel E. and Carrie (Murray) Seeley, and attended Battle Creek schools, graduating in 1922.
On Winning Drill Team
He was in the grocery business for a number of years, employed by the J. Herbert Whelan Grocery and later by the Food City Candy Co. In 1942 he joined the Prudential Life Insurance Co. and was retired in 1952, due to his physical disability.
A former member of the Battle Creek Lodge No. 131, B.P.O.E., Mr. Seeley was a member of the Elks Drill Team in 1942 which participated in the Class B competition and won the state championship.
He was a member of the united Commercial Travelers, attended the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and was a former member of the Battle Creek Association of Life Underwriters.
Services Are Monday
Mr. Seeley and Miss Margaret Whelan were married in Battle Creek Aug. 1, 1931, Mrs. Seeley has been office secretary at W.K. Kellogg Junior High School for a number of years.
Surviving are his wife; one son; Richard Murray Seeley, a junior at Western Michigan College in Kalamazoo; one brother, Murray W. Seeley of Nashville; four sisters, Mrs. Otis (Bertha Ketchum of Lacey, Mrs. F.A. (Marguerite) Bracey of 71 S. McKinley Ave., Miss Ruella Seeley of 43 S. Union St., and Mrs. Roy C. (Doris) Calloway of 135 N. McKinley Ave., several nieces and nephews, and two grandnieces.
Services will be at 3:30 p.m. Monday at the Farley Funeral Home, with Willard Bergey, Chirstian Science reader, in charge.
Pallbearers will be men presently or formerly with Prudential, Harold Holiday, Garnet Musser, Peter Pierce, Kenneth Kuchnreuther, Lyle DeGraw and G.M. Wycoff.
Published in the Battle Creek Enquirer (Battle Creek, Michigan) Saturday May 22, 1954
