Lyla Marie Sealey (born Neely)
Personal
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: August 21, 1925
Date of Death: June 14, 2016
Birth Place: Highlands, NC
Death Place: Newport News, VA
Lyla Marie Sealey
1925 – 2016
NEWPORT NEWS – Lyla Marie Sealey, 90, died June 14, 2016 at The Cheasapeake Retirement Community in Newport News where the faculty and staff have provided loving care for her during her almost 13 years there. Marie was born August 21, 1925 in Highlands, N.C., oldest daughter of Frank and Winifred Neely. She is predeceased by her brother, Mack, and by her sister, Margaret, as well as by a grandson, David Scott Sealey. She is survived by her husband, Jim Sealey, to whom she was married for 70 all-too-brief years, and by a loving daughter, Robin Marie Graves, of Smith Mountain Lake, Va, as well as by a son, James Lee Sealey, Jr. of Hampton and by a grandson, Barclay Dickinson Phillips, of Charlotte, N.C. Marie’s father was killed in a highway accident when Marie was six, and she soon afterwards moved in with her beloved grandparents, Mack and Annie Pierson of Highlands, N.C. Marie developed her love of music at the family piano and exercised that talent during high school by playing for her church on Sunday mornings, then at the local African-American church on Sunday afternoons. She continued her music career at Mars Hill College, then at Wake Forest where she met the love of her life, Jim Sealey, on a blind date. That was the first and last blind date that either of them experienced. They soon married and moved to Hampton where Marie taught grade school for two years and then completed her B.S. as well as her M.S. degrees at William and Mary. She earned both of her degrees while having a family and while teaching music in the Hampton School District where she taught for 27 years. Marie loved visiting her beautiful, laurel-carpeted mountains of Highlands each summer where she enjoyed walks to the numerous waterfalls. She enjoyed gardening at home, and Jim teased her about being “his best yard man” at their home on the Piankiatank River. She retained her love of music, of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and of her family throughout her life. She will be remembered as a wonderfully sweet and loving wife, mother, and friend. A memorial service will be held 2:00 pm Friday, June 17 at The Chestnut Memorial United Methodist Church, 1024 Harpersville Road, Newport News. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Chimes Program at The Chesapeake Retirement Home, 955 Harpersville Rd, Newport News, VA 23601.
Published in Daily Press on June 16, 2016
