(May 29, 1940 – February 18, 2016)
Diane Adell Seely, 75, of Moorestown, NJ died peacefully surrounded by family on Thursday February 18, 2016 at The Evergreens retirement community following a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
She leaves behind her husband of 37 years, Earl Seely; her daughters Jennifer Block Sheffield and Michelle Block; her son-in-law and grandson Eric and Alexander Andrews Sheffield; her sister and brother-in-law, Marsha and Larry Voigt, her step grandchildren James and Jennifer Juliano and Evie and Alex Seely.
Diane was born on May 29, 1940 in Rockford, IL, the eldest daughter of Galen and Marjo Andrews. She was raised in Rockford, where she met her first husband, Milton Block, at West High School. She received a B.S. degree in Education from Northwestern University while also working in the dean’s office to pit Milt through medical school.
In 1969, she moved with her family to Cherry Hill, where she was an elementary school resource teacher at Kilmer, Malberg and Stockton schools and an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church, where she met her second husband and soul mate Earl Seely. In 1974, she was named Woman of the Year at the church and in 2013 she and Earl received the UUCCH Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for their contributions to the church. She was a founding member and facilitator of an “extended family” which was formed at the church in 1975 and is still active today. The extended family consisted of a few couples and singles with their children plus other adults who filled the roles of uncles and aunts, grandparents and great grandparents. For over 30 years, until she was stricken with Alzheimer’s she was the driving force and glue that held the extended family together.
Diane and Earl shared a love of family and travel. They spent vacations traveling in their motor home with family and friends and eventually bought a shore house in Cape May, NJ, a place that was very special to both of them.
A Memorial Service will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill at 12:00 Noon on March 12, 2016. Memorial gifts in Diane’s memory may be made to The Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org.)
Published online by the Alloway Funeral Home, Inc.
