Louis Edward Seiler

Services for Louis Edward Seiler, 76, of Dallas, will be 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, November 20, 2012 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 600 South Jupiter, Richardson, TX with Father Timothy Heines officiating. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception at the Parish Hall following the mass. Visitation will be 6:00 to 7:30 pm Monday, November 19 with a Rosary following at 7:30 at Sparkman Funeral Home, 1029 South Greenville Avenue, Richardson, TX. Mr. Seiler passed away Thursday, November 15 in Richardson.

Louis was born January 31, 1936 in Enid, Oklahoma; the youngest child of William and Mary Seiler. His mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth. He was raised by his older sisters and an assortment of aunts.

He told stories of pulling his wagon to the one room schoolhouse where he was the youngest student and of racing through the house to shake the floor and make his sister’s freshly baked cakes fall which often resulted in being chased with either a butcher knife or BB gun which he hid from in the old combine on the farm. His love of dancing a good polka came from his dad who played the fiddle at barn dances and he would go along and dance with the elderly widows.

He graduated from Wakita High School and drove the school bus while he was still in school. After graduation he joined the Air Force and spoke fondly of his time spent in Alaska. During this time he took some time to take some trips. He loved to tell about going to Niagra Falls and staying in the honeymoon suite all by himself.

He met Ethel Mae Bradley by way of his brother John whose fiancé Karen was taking classes at the Catholic church in Enid. He was working in Dallas and going to mortuary science school at the time. They married July 9, 1962 and celebrated 50 years of marriage this past July.

After they married, he worked at Republic National Bank as a teller. Later he went to work at Acme Granite and Marble in cemetery and mausoleum sales. This led to moves to Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado before returning to Dallas. Back in the metroplex he worked at Rosehill Cemetery in Fort Worth. One of the many, shall we say, astonishing things he has done was ride his bicycle from Haltom City to downtown Fort Worth to pick up his car from his favorite mechanic. The same mechanic that each of us kids, on numerous occasions, were the hapless driver of some vehicle he towed from Dallas to Fort Worth for repair. Some times the “tow rope” seemed to be nothing more than dental floss.

After a time at Rosehill, he came to work for Restland and then later Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery in Colleyville. After “retiring” from sales he drove a bus for DART. This included a fun trip to DFW airport following Margaret and Blair’s wedding for a send off for their Disney honeymoon.

After leaving DART, he worked delivering payrolls for a courier service. It seemed no matter what job he did, it involved driving and contact with people. He loved to talk to people and could spin quite a tale himself.

Over his lifetime he had many side jobs, including grounds keeping at a small racetrack in Colorado, and mowing lawns which some how seemed almost therapeutic for him.

Of his many interests, he always loved going to the dirt track car races. At 70 he could still ride White Rock Lake on his bike and after “retiring” to Winnsboro on the weekends, he would get his chores done so he could go enjoy the musical entertainment at the Crossroads in downtown. He loved old cars and owned several over his lifetime. He often joked about being buried in the last one he owned – an avocado green Fleetwood (His green casket is as close as we could come to making that come true). He was an active member of the North Texas Cadillac and LaSalle Club for many years. He enjoyed their many trips and Bugtussle Treks.

Although he worked mowing yards, he still loved just puttering around in the yard. It was a challenge for him to see if he could get stuff to grow.

He made lots of great memories for us kids. When we lived in Kansas, our house was on a cul-da-sac and he used his riding lawnmower to make a train of wagons from the neighbor kids and give rides, pulling us round and round. In Missouri, the lake in a nearby park froze over every winter and we would go with our disk sled and he would use a rope to spin us around and slingshot us off into a snow bank. Although he was not much of a swimmer, he loved to be in the pool and would let us climb on his back for “whale” rides. Later those became “horsey” rides for his granddaughters.

Two of his favorite foods were Snickers candy bars and strawberry ice cream. As kids Mom would get the boxes of Neopolitan ice cream. Brad and I would get the chocolate, Mom and Margaret ate the vanilla ice cream and Dad got the strawberry. He liked to play dominos and canasta but was the kind of guy who could count the dominos and know what everyone had or watch the cards discarded and know who held which cards. It was hard to win a game against him.

He did a lot of things to help out family and friends. He drove to West Virginia to help our aunt and her kids move back here to Texas. The sight of them pulling up in the drive way with the four of them in the suburban, pulling my aunt’s car and both automobiles piled and packed looked like the Beverly Hillbillies. He even gave his original pre-paid funeral to Mom’s Aunt Rae at her passing, as she didn’t have one and later had to purchase another one for himself.

He was a character who loved to tell a good joke and dance a polka, even if it was in the kitchen. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the North Texas Cadillac LaSalle Club. He had a love for old cars and Snickers Bars. He had his opinions and wasn’t afraid to share them. He had his faults but he had his good points too. He was a one of a kind who made an impression on everyone he met.

Louis was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, and one brother.

He is survived by his loving wife, Ethel Mae Seiler of Dallas; son Brad Seiler and his wife Jackie of Richardson; two daughters, Elizabeth Rogers and her husband Monty of Garland, Margaret Cox and her husband Blair of Dallas; and four granddaughters Zoe Seiler and Simone Seiler, Megan Cox and Emily Cox.

In lieu of flowers memorials are requested to Society of St Vincent De Paul, St Joseph Conference, 600 S. Jupiter Rd, Richardson, TX 75081, www.stthomasquinos.org.