Emma Lester Seely, 85, poet, amateur nature photographer
Emma Lester Seely, 85, amateur nature photographer, died yesterday in Wade Park Manor after being ill with cancer.
Memorial services will be at 2:30 p.m. Monday at the Church of the Covenant (Presbyterian) 11205 Euclid Ave.
Mrs. Seely was a fellow of the Amateur Cinema League, the Photographic Society of American and the Society of Amateur Cinematographers.
She formerly taught a class in amateur moving making at Cleveland College at Western Reserve University and also had private pupils at her studio in Cleveland Heights.
After a short period of taking black and white still photos in the early 1930s, she branched into motion pictures. She showed her movies and color slides in lectures to numerous local clubs and study groups.
In 1944 she won fifth prize in the American Humane Society’s amateur movie contest for a film entitled “Swan Life.”
Mrs. Seely was founder and first president of the Parma Cinema League, past president of the Kirtland Photographic Club and past treasurer of the Motion Picture Council of Greater Cleveland.
She was a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society and the Camera Guild of Cleveland.
A film of a hummingbird nest won her an award from Movie Makers magazine. She filmed the hummingbird from behind a blind build on a step ladder.
A soundtrack of her own poetry often accompanied her movies. She was a member of the National League of American Pen Women and wrote articles for photography magazines and also four books, which were privately printed.
A former commission of the Cleveland Girl Scout Council, she remained as honorary member of the Lake Erie Girl Scout Council.
Mrs. Seely was a past president of the Cleveland Vassar Alumnae Club, on the boards of trustees of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center and the Cleveland Audubon Society and a member of the Women’s City Club, the Junior League of Cleveland, the 19th Century Study Club and Burroughs Nature Club.
She also belonged to the Church of the Covenant, the Garden Center of Greater Cleveland, the College Club, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Health Museum and the Cleveland Skating Club.
Mrs. Seely moved here from New York in 1919. Her husband, Warner, retired vice president of Warner & Swasey Co. died in 1968. He was a nephew of a Warner & Swasey founder.
Surviving are daughters, Edith S. Condit of Vero Beach, Fla., and Susanne S. Jackson of Waverly, PA., 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Published in the Plain Dealer, February 24, 1979
SEELY – EMMA L. SEELY (nee Lester), beloved wife of the late Warner, mother of Edith S. Condit (Mrs. William B.) of Vero Beach, Fla. (formerly of Garden City, N.Y.), Susanne S. Jackson (Mrs. T. Lawrie) of Waverly, Pa., and the late Worcester Warner Seely, grandmother of 12, great-grandmother of one. Thos who which may make contributions in her name to The Cleveland Audubon Society or the Memorial Fund of The Church of the Covenant 11205 Euclid Ave. where Memorial services will be held in Christ Chapel, Monday, Feb. 26, at 2:30 P.M. Friends may call at Brown-Forward 17022 Chagrin Blvd. Sunday 2 – 5 P.M.
Published unknown
[Wife of grandson of SGS # 2739 – Carl Warner; Charles DeLoss; George Washington (# 2739); Loren/Lorin; Benjamin; Benjamin; Joseph; John; Nathaniel; Robert]
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