Grant & Margo

Grant McLean Seely
& Margaret Pack
Doyle Grant Seely & Khris
John McLean Seely & Paulette





These handsome family-group shots appear to date from about the same time; one of them, moreover, is even dated.
Verna, Arta, Alfaretta, F Leland, Grant, Leola; Inset: Elwyn (about 1919)
Verna, Arta, Alfaretta, F Leland, Grant,
Leola; Inset: Elwyn (about 1919)


Pansy, Leola, Grace, Verna, Grant, Elwyn,
F Leland, Kenneth, Arta holding Joyce,
Alfaretta holding Glen, Ardus, Rodman,
Dwayne (about 1928)


Arta, Elwyn, F Leland, Alfaretta, Grace,
Verna, Pansy, Grant with little Ardus and
Dwayne (about 1928)

Grave
Listed with parents
With Verna and Leola
With Verna and Leola, again
Five Mad Seelys
In front of Brigham City homestead
Seely Christmas 1941
Mad Seelys and Spouses
Mad Seelys and Spouses, San Diego
In San Bernardino
Admired Rick in San Diego
The Mad Seelys — Final Assemblies
Temple Garden
New Friends and Old Kin
The Seely Family, Christmas 1941
Among Seelys, Christmas 1941
The Seely Family, circa 1940
With Leola and Verna
Among Seelys, Christmas 1941
Carters & Seelys
Mad Seelys in San Bernardino
All four among Seelys, Christmas 1941
Carters and Seelys
Maurice, Ken, Duane, Leola, Grace, Jim,
Verna, Margo, Grant

Came to our wedding
Margo helped at the reception
Margo, Mammy, Verna
…and the guys
Spoke at my farewell
Showing off Ricky
Portraits
Postal employees
Tallest and funniest uncle
Early family photos
Three generations
Grant, John, Margo
Grant, Leola
Globe Theatre, San Diego Verna, Grant, Margo
The scary cane
Leola, Margo, Verna
Ken, Verna, Grant, Margo, Leola
Family session in the Bountiful Temple
Family session in the Bountiful Temple
Grant and Margo both worked for the Post Office, in its happier days. Isn’t he handsome in his letter-carrier uniform? I do remember being told once that he also sold shoes for a living. I remember him mainly as my funniest uncle.

When Valerie and I became engaged, in 1961, the folks took us down to San Diego to introduce her to our folks there.
Came to our wedding
With Folks & Carters in San Bernardino

Khris, Doyle, Margo, Paulette, John. Still need the names of the kids.


Grant, John, Margo

Grant, Leola
Verna, Grant, Margo
The classic expressions on the faces of my loved ones in this shot provide all the excuse I need to illustrate the special place that Uncle Grant holds in my heart and in family lore. The medical paraphernalia help, too. Please know that Grant and Margo adored each other, palpably and perennially; and that his legendary sense of humor sent her eyes rolling back in their sockets with great frequency. Beyond those facts, Valerie and I debate over a number of details, but they don’t really matter. Here’s the anecdote:

1961. I’d just proposed marriage to Valerie, and she, mirabilissime, had accepted. Pappy thought I was in too big a hurry, but then it’s not clear when he would have felt otherwise. It may have comforted him that I was actively preparing to depart on my first mission, which would postpone any further marital innovations for at least a couple of years. Despite any misgivings in principle, Pappy and Mammy were eager to show off their first daughter-in-law-elect to everybody who’d pay attention, beginning with our most nearly local kinfolk. So, we five piled into the car (Georgia, perhaps) and motored down to Spring Valley (San Diego, for all practical purposes) where, on Osage Avenue, dwelt the Grant Seelys.

He was serving as Bishop of his congregation, if I recall correctly. And he (or perhaps Margo) had suffered an injury or undergone a surgery that cluttered their domicile with crutches, wheelchair, and such. Once introductions were out of the way, we enjoyed a predictable, rollicking, Seely-style schmooze-session until it was clearly too late to drive back to San Bernardino that night. So Margo set about assigning to each of us a suitable sleeping accommodation.

Valerie drew a comfy La-Z-Boy, into which she was just settling when Uncle Bishop Grant made his way to her side, bearing a stout cane. “Valerie,” quoth he, “ you’re a very pretty girl. I want you to keep this at your side [presenting the cane], and if I should bother you in the night, you’re to drive me away with it.”

Valerie, unaccustomed to such banter, was startled and came hilariously close to taking him seriously!

Leola, Margo, Verna

Ken, Verna, Grant, Margo, Leola

Maurice, Ken, Duane, Leola, Grace, Jim, Verna, Margo, Grant
With Babbs and Seelys at table
From time to time (these shots seem to reflect two occasions), subteams of the Mad Seelys gathered at their most distant outpost in San Diego. Since I retain no memory of this assembly (at left), I’m guessing it dates from my absence in France, 1961-64. They’re all there but Elwyn. The chap on the left is Margo’s brother Maurice Pack. Associated images display his two cute little daughters.

The two shots above look earlier, but I may be wrong.
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