(Obituary Transcription)

Chester Wheeler SEELY

The funeral service for Chester W. Seely of Novato, retired Hamilton Air Force Base postmaster, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Monte’s Mission Chapel, San Rafael.

Seely, 80, died Sunday at a local convalescent hospital after a long illness.

Seely, the first postmaster at the base, retired in 1961 after 25 years on the job.

He became postmaster in 1936 when the base was granted a post office. The busiest years were during World War II when the base served as a post of embarkation and the office handled as many as 600 mail pouches a day and there were midnight mail calls for transient personnel enroute to the Pacific.

Before he was appointed postmaster, Seely had worked as a flooring carpenter.

He was a past master of Fairfax Lodge No. 556, Free and Accepted Masons and a 56-year member of the lodge.

Seely had served on the police commission in Fairfax and during World War II with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Marin County Sheriff’s Patrol.

Seely was a native of San Francisco who moved to Marin in 1925 and lived in Fairfax and San Rafael before moving to Novato in 1968.

Surviving are his wife, Bert, of Novato; a son, Jack A. Seely of Novato; a daughter, Gail Skinrood of Herndon, Va.; and seven grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

Inurnment will be private. The family prefers that memorial contributions be made to Shriners’ Hospital for Crippled Children in San Francisco or a favorite charity.

Published in the Independent Journal, Tuesday, April 15, 1980, Page 4

[Chester is great-grandson of SGS # 3040 - Chester Wheeler; Frank Hanscom; Jonas G; Samuel(#3040); Jonas (# 1320); John; John S; Obadiah; Obadiah; Obadiah]