Earl Monroe Seeley, Jr.

Earl Seeley (80) passed away on April 6, 2024, at Karen Acres Healthcare Center in Urbandale, Iowa. Burial and a graveside service will be held at the Iowa Veterans Cemetery (34024 Veterans Memorial Dr, Adel, IA 50003) on Thursday, April 18th at 2:00 pm.

Earl Monroe Seeley Jr. was born to Earl Sr. and Doris (Compton) Seeley on January 25, 1944, and was raised in Califon, New Jersey. He earned a degree in economics from Rider College, NJ. He played baseball at Rider with scouts eyeing him for professional ball, but the draft was approaching.

Earl spent two years in Iran with the Peace Corps, primarily teaching English. He returned to the States to attend a management graduate program and was soon drafted into the Army, based at Ft. McPherson, GA (Third US Army). Earl worked in intelligence with early computers, toured with top flag football and softball teams, and as a member of the soldier show, lifting spirits of service members all over the South. Earl was an amazing singer, with a beautiful natural instrument.

Earl moved to Colorado to work at CU Boulder, married Debra Chandler (Stephens), and had one son Neil and stepson Ryan Baldi. During the 1970s and 1980s, Earl moved into banking until the energy crisis. He left the world of financial services and took a job as a delivery driver until his retirement in 2013. Earl and Debra divorced in 1983/84, raised Neil together, though Debra remarried and moved to Memphis, and Neil stayed with Earl in Arvada, Colorado.

Earl was tremendously talented but found his true calling as a father. Earl embraced his role as a single dad, hardly missing a game, performance, or school event, all the while keeping two to three jobs to make ends meet. At one point, he delivered papers in the morning and mowed lawns at night around his regular job, bringing Neil along so he could still play catch between lawns or catch up on the day. Later in Neil’s schooling, Earl was a regular and beloved fixture at events. Arguably Earl’s greatest legacy, warm hugs to his son every morning and every night.

Earl followed Neil and his wife Erica to Minneapolis in 2005, and ‘Papa’ jumped right into babysitting grandchildren, Norah and Kieran. He later retired and followed Neil and Erica to Des Moines, where Papa took up a new delivery route, getting Kieran and Norah to and from Webster Elementary School sometimes with a stop for breakfast sandwiches or donuts along the way. Papa continued this role with Ethan and Graham, but culminated his delivery driving career with enumerable trips to and from Urbandale Middle School with Norah until he fully retired in 2020.

Earl also cherished time with his Iowa extended family; Noah and Lindsey Braymen for long Thanksgivings, John and Dianne Braymen for Easter and Christmas meals, and Jan Tegeler and the Johnson, Ross, Rockafellow gang for Christmas!

Earl is preceded in death by his parents, Earl Sr. and Doris Seeley, and good friend Rush Limbaugh.

Left to cherish Earl's memory are his son Neil (Erica) Seeley; siblings, Sandy (Tom) Hill, Sherry Potopowitz; grandchildren, Norah, Kieran, Ethan, and Graham as well as a host of extended family and nurse friends from Karen Acres.