Robert Ray Seiler's Obituary
Robert Ray Seiler, beloved husband and father, passed away on January 11, 2025.
The son of Charles Ray Seiler and Mary Phinamore (Bittinger) Seiler, he was born on September 17, 1932 in Dayton, OH. As a small boy, he moved with his family to Manchester, MD, where he spent a happy childhood exploring the surrounding farmland and forests on his bike, or hanging out in the town pool hall (more benign than it sounds), where he learned to shoot a crackerjack game of pool. He achieved the honor of Eagle Scout.
After graduating from Manchester High School in 1949, he attended the University of Maryland, earning a BS in Psychology and MBA in Business Education with an emphasis on personnel administration. He joined the Army to see the world and was subsequently assigned to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He jokingly said that was probably not the best plan he ever had, but he served his country well. He was the company clerk for his ordinance unit and achieved the rank of Corporal. (In later years he joked he was the "Radar O'Reilly of Aberdeen Proving Ground.") He was honorably discharged in 1955.
He spent 35 years as a civilian employee with the Navy under the Department of Defense, where he held the various positions of management analyst, field activities, inspector, and personnel research specialist. His duties included the inspection of naval ships and naval bases, and his inspection tours took him all over the world, to bases both foreign and domestic, including Pearl Harbor. His other travels included Canada and all 50 states, and he got his wish to see the world.
He married the love of his life, Dianne Louise Smith, on March 25, 1962, at St. John's Methodist Church in Hampstead, MD. The couple moved to Seaford following his retirement, where they ran Nanticoke House, a charming bed and breakfast located on the Nanticoke River in Seaford, DE. It was a joint venture of shared responsibilities, about which he liked to say, "I'm bed, she's breakfast."
He was a member of the Atlanta Road Alliance Church of Seaford, the Gideons, Chinese Overseas Christian Mission, and the City of Seaford Block Watch.
He was a poet. He was an artist. From his father, he learned wood inlay, and produced many beautiful geometric wooden serving trays of his own design. He enjoyed reading, especially books about US Presidents and presidential history; he knew more presidential trivia than just about anybody. He did crossword puzzles in ink. He was a performer of spoonerisms, to the delight and enjoyment of many. His favorite color was red, and he was a life-long devotee of naps. Breakfast was his favorite meal, but he declared mashed potatoes and gravy his favorite food. The family joked that it was more like "see-food", as in "When I see food, I eat it."
He loved God. He loved his family. He loved his cat. He never met a pet or a pie he didn't like. He said, "I'd like to leave the world a better place than I found it, and I found it in pretty bad shape." He made it better just by being in it and he will be deeply missed.
He is survived by his children: Laurie A. and Rick Rapa of Woodstock, GA; Wendie K. and Jim Zeller of Indianapolis, IN; Dana m. and Wendy (Gromen) Seiler of Salisbury, MD; and Deborah L. Seiler of Manchester, MD. His wife Dianne and a son, Steven W. Seiler preceded him in death, as did his sister, Dorothy E. Seiler of Boulder, CO. He is survived as well by ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be on Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. at Atlanta Road Alliance Church in Seaford, DE. Interment will be held in Manchester, MD, where he and Dianne will be placed beside the final resting place of his son, Steven W. Seiler.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions in his memory may be made to Brandywine Valley Animal Shelter or Gideons International.
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