Mason J. Seals Sr.

Mason J Seals passed away on March 11, 2020 at the age of 90. Mr. Seals, a lifelong resident of New Orleans, was the son of the late Mason Seals and Olga (Sevin) Seals. He was preceded in death by his wife of 51 years, Bobbie Jean, his brothers, Kenneth and Donald Seals and his sister Yvonne (Seals) Bixby. Born and raised in the Mid-City neighborhood of New Orleans, Mr. Seals graduated Valedictorian from St. Aloysius High School and went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering from Tulane University. His adventurous career as an engineer carried him widely across aerospace, deep sea, and water management technologies. He was a Veteran of the Korean War and discharged in 1953.

During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, Mr. Seals helped with Chrysler Corporation’s construction of launch pads at the U.S. Air Force’s Jupiter ballistic missile sites in Italy and Turkey. Continuing employment with Chrysler at the Michoud Assembly Facility here in New Orleans, he worked on the Saturn rockets that launched space vehicles for NASA’s Apollo Moon program. Mr. Seals’ versatile skill as an engineer was further put to test in the 1970’s, when he went to work on submersible oil rigs for Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company. Placement of offshore rigs took him to waters of both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Yearning to become his “own boss” for a change, Mr. Seals then turned to a couple of self-employment projects. For a while, he was a distributor for Abita Springs during the 1980’s and farmed Christmas trees on family land in Varnado, Louisiana. Mr. Seals later went to work for the State of Louisiana as an engineer in water quality management, and after retirement he worked as an environmental-engineering consultant for Lafarge North America. While busy with those jobs, he also managed to build a second home for his family in Bridgewater, Vermont.

While pursuing an occupational journey that took him from rockets to concrete, Mason Seals never lost his passionate devotion to Tulane University sports and New Orleans music among other unique features of his home city including French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest. He never passed up an opportunity to dance or second line. For several years, he belonged to Pete Fountain’s Half Fast Walking Club and paraded with a notably brisk step every Mardi Gras day.

Mr. Seals was the oldest of 7 siblings, father to 5 children and a large extended family for which he set a fine example of leadership, kindness and help when he was called upon. Mr. Seals is survived by a brother (Ellis Seals), two sisters (Janet Chilton, Sharon Huffman), a son (Mason Seals, Jr.), four daughters (Rhonda Usner and husband Danny, Valerie McFadden and husband Patrick, Lisa Preston and late husband Robert Preston, Bridget Seals Rush and husband Jim Rush and family Jamie, Patrick and Manning Gordon, and Jimmy and Jacob Rush). He and his wife are survived by 11 grandchildren (Jacob and Jordan Usner, Taylor D’Anna, Flynn and Mallary McFadden, Salem Robinson, Peyton Pawlicki, Ian and Parrish Preston, Savannah and Mason Seals. There are 5 great grandchildren (Ramsey and Aurora Robinson, Logan and Luke D’Anna, and Layla Usner). Mason and his wife Bobbie were the “go to” for every holiday, birthday and family celebration filled with gourmet home cooked meals, music, dancing and love.

The family wishes to express gratitude to the staff and caregivers at Sunrise Senior Living in Metairie, who assisted and encouraged Mason over the past several years to live life to the fullest.