Vernell Seals

Mrs. Vernell Seals, 90, passed away on Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at her home in Bartlesville, OK. Private graveside funeral services were held at Memorial Park Cemetery Mausoleum with Chris Watts officiating. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of Stumpff Funeral Home. Donations in memory of Vernell can be made on the Hope Harbor website (www.hopeharboring.org). Mrs. Seals was born in Hollis, OK on February 20, 1930, the daughter of James Marvin and Gladys Inez Curry. She grew up in Hollis and graduated from Hollis High School. She attended Oklahoma A&M where she met George Seals. They were married on June 18, 1950 at the family home in Hollis, OK. They made their homes in a number of locations during his years of service as a County Extension Director for Oklahoma State University, ending up in Bartlesville in 1979. Vernell grew up in a family of nine on a farm in southwest OK in the midst of the Great Depression and later World War II. She loved sharing stories about a bygone era: classmates all being let out of school to help with harvest at each other’s family farms; the same kid that was the star basketball player in high school was also her bus driver; “going to town” really was a special occasion; her colorful variety of dance cards filled by GI’s returning from the war. Vernell was an avid historian of her brothers’ service in WWII and an active member of their military squadron survivor groups. She loved travel, history, and spent years in genealogy research on both sides of the family going back to the 1500’s. Vernell stayed in regular contact with members of the Hollis High School graduating class of 1948. She loved and cared for birds and spent a lot of time tending to trees and flowers in her yard. She was literally a walking encyclopedia, and probably the most talented person ever at packing a pink Coleman cooler sufficient to get us through three-week road trips from the Pacific to the Atlantic wanting to make sure her children learned as much about the US as possible. She was an active member in the Dewey Church of Christ, and big supporter of local Bartlesville music and art foundations and events. Survivors include three sons, Marcus Gene Seals of Dewey, OK, Lanny Maurice Seals and his wife Brenda of Dewey, OK, and Patrick Curry Seals and his wife Jean Ann of Sugar Land, TX, two grandchildren, Tucker Hudson Seals of Houston, TX, Margo Alexandra Seals of Austin, TX, and one sister, Vada Jo Choate of Ada, OK. She was preceded in death by her husband, both parents, two brothers, Trafford Leon Curry and Gailord Lofton Curry, three sisters, Nellie Margurette Spradlin, Walta Wanda Lentz, and Eva Mae Snelling.

Vernell Seals

February 20, 1930 - April 1, 2020