Funeral services for Mrs. Ethel Seay of Americus, Georgia will be held on Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 11:00 A.M. at the Big Bethel Baptist Church with Rev. Calvin Rollins officiating. Burial will follow at the Eastview Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday from 6 to 7 P.M.
Mrs. Ethel Seay was born to the parentage of the late Ethel Davis and the late Henry Thrasher in Louisville, Kentucky, and was raised by her Aunt Laura Davis in Americus after the death of her mother.
She received her early education at McCoy Hill School in Americus, Georgia. She also joined Big Bethel Baptist Church at the age of 9 where her membership remains for over 80 years. As one of the oldest members of Big Bethel Baptist Church she has served the church in various capacities including President of the Senior Choir, Deaconess, Missionary Board, Women's Progressive Club and other duties within the church. She was a lifelong member of the NAACP and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post 558 as well as a civil rights activists. One of her fondest memories is attending the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where she met the late Coretta Scott King. She enjoyed gardening, traveling and spending time with her family. She could be considered a local historian because of her vast knowledge of many of the families in and around Americus.
As a young mother of two boys (James L. and Carl Lamar), Ethel moved to Springfield and Holyoke, Massachusetts to work and support her two children. She later moved back to Americus where she met and married her husband, the late veteran Fred Seay, on July 26, 1947. To this union four children were born. She is survived by her loving sister, Harriet Gass Broughton, Tyler, TX, (two brothers who preceded her in death; Charles "Zutie" Key and Marvin H. Davis). She is survived by her six children; James (Georgia) Lamar, Ft. Pierce, FL, Carl Lamar and Freddie Seay, Rochester, NY, Deacon Henry C. Seay, Americus, GA, w. Frank Seay, Douglasville, GA, and her devoted daughter and caretaker, Maxine (Kenneth) O'Neal, Jonesboro, GA. Nine grandchildren; Sidney (Sherri) Lamar, Mitchellville, MD, Jewel L. Moultrie, Darrow Seay, Brina (Demetrius) Seay Mitchell, Daniel (Yamara) Demos, all of Rochester, NY, Monisha (Brian)Volley, Jessie D. Seay, all of Americus, GA, Durrell Seay, Atlanta, GA, P03 Courtney Seay, Naples, Italy and Kendall R. O'Neal, Jonesboro, GA, eleven great-grandchildren, six nieces and nephews; Eric Broughton, Laura Fry, Janice Mass, Ernest Broughton, Jr., Tyler, TX, Douglas Broughton and Beverly Butler, Houston, TX and other relatives and friends also survive.