Mildred Loretta (Seaman) Guile

Mildred Loretta Seaman Guile,96, of Bossier City, Louisiana, formerly of Battle Creek died on Thursday, September 16, 2021 at her son Teds home in Bossier City, Louisiana.

Mildred was born December 5, 1924.  Her father, Earl Edward Seaman, passed 2 months before her birth.  Mom was not expected to live.  Obviously she defied all the odds and lived a full, happy life.  Mom had 4 sisters and 2 brothers, all who have passed before her.  She grew up on Goguac Lake in Battle Creek, MI.  She has told everyone that she'd get up in the morning, eat a small breakfast, slip into her bathing suit and play in the lake all day.  She could swim across that entire lake.  Mom grew up poor, during the depression.  She never knew she was poor, though.  Life held too much for her.  Everyone Mom met was a friend.  But times were rough and people were different then.  Once Grandma had put Mom's hair into braids after school.  Mom, of course, had gone swimming and gotten her braids soaked.  She went to bed that night with the braids still in.  The next day she woke up and her hair looked pretty wild.  Grandma did the best she could then sent Mom to school.  The teacher stood Mom up front of the class and told Mom's classmates how awful Mom looked and one should never go to school looking that bad.  Mom went home for lunch and told her mom.  Grandma wrote that teacher a letter.  Mom said she never read what Grandma wrote, but it must have been a doozy because the teacher took Mom aside and apologized.  Mom attended Battle Creek public schools until after the 9th grade.  Her mother moved the family out to Bellevue where Mom went to high school for a few months.  She got a job as a full time babysitter and dropped out of school to make money.  The children she tended couldn't pronounce 'Mildred' so they called her Susie.  When she met my dad, Deland Guile, he thought that was her name.  For years he called her Susie, much  to the bewilderment of us kids - until Mom explained it to us.

Mom and Daddy got married on February 28, 1942 in Charlotte, MI.  No family or friends were there to witness it.  Daddy knew he was going to be drafted so he joined the Coast Guard and was deployed to Florida.  Mom joined him there.  She said it was very hard getting an apartment, no one wanted sailors as tenants.  After Dan and Dennis was born Mom said she would carry Dennis and Daddy would carry Danny and they would go door to door  trying to find accommodations.  They found one just in time to get there before Daddy had to report for duty.  Mom was all by herself most of the time with 2 little boys.

After the war they moved back to Battle Creek.  They bought a house that wasn't much bigger than a shack, it didn't have indoor plumbing.  But they worked hard and made their shack a beautiful little home when Sandy and myself came to be.  Sandy  was a special needs child, but they didn't know for sure until Sandy was 3 years old.  The Dr.'s told our folks that Sandy was 'retarded' and was possibly a 'Mongoloid'.  Our parents were devastated.  Most of the work with Sandy was carried out by Mom.  I never heard Mom complain about all the extra work, all the frustrations, all the fears - nothing.

Mom and Daddy were baptized and confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 20th 1954, along with Dan and Dennis. She was a faithful member all her life and served in many callings.

Mom and Daddy moved our family to Detroit a few years after that.  Detroit was nothing like it is today.  We were a one car family, so Mom and I would ride the bus when we had to.  We could walk down to the stores.  We lived in a very nice neighborhood with lots of neighbors, but one sticks out in my mind.  This lady would call Mom and ask her to send either Dan, Dennis or me over to work for her for a few hours.  Nobody wanted to go but Mom would tell us we needed to treat our neighbors as we wanted to be treated.   This lady was huge and crippled.  She was not a very nice person but everyday Mom and Daddy went to her house and helped her get ready for the day.  Every day.  For years.

Daddy didn't like pets in the house BUT he loved exotic animals.  They bought Dan and Dennis a Capuchin ring tailed monkey for Christmas.  The work to take care of that monkey - Peppy - all fell on Mom.  Monkeys are clever and extremely messy.  Peppy had a metal cart that his large cage sat on.  On the bottom shelf of the cart were two 50 pound weights.  One night Mom was tired so she thought she could clean without removing the weights.  Nope.  They both slid off the shelf onto Mom's left foot and broke it.  That did not stop Mom.  She never slowed down one bit.

June and Ted were added to our family while we lived in Detroit.  Three boys, three girls.  Daddy was the ultimate boss but Mom was Sargent at Arms.  Daddy said watching TV was a waste of time so we could watch one hour a night.  Daddy wasn't home, but Mom said we were going to do what Daddy said - and we did.    Every night at 8:00 Daddy called from work.  Mom was by that phone waiting for it to ring.  She never missed.  It got close a couple of times, but she never missed.

Dan and Dennis joined the service and moved away.  Mom and Daddy moved again to a little place called Eckford.  Detroit was getting dangerous and Daddy worked in a not desirable area.  He and Mom packed us up and moved to where Daddy and Uncle Ronnie could build houses.  It was a great plan - until it wasn't.  Uncle Ronnie didn't spend the time he should have working on the house.  But Mom did.  She dug, nailed, mixed cement, you name it, she did it.  And took care of the house we lived in and took care of us.  She cooked and cleaned and helped build the house that became theirs when it was finished.

Mom was a creative person.  She learned how to knit then to crochet then to tat.  She made a lot of our clothes.  Later in life she taught herself how to play the organ and how to decorate cakes.  She told me just a few years ago that when she got married she didn't know how to do anything.  She set her mind to learning how to bake.  Her mom didn't have the rime to sit with Mom and teach her to sew or knit, so Mom taught herself.  Mom crocheted The Last Supper among many other wall hangings.  One day I opened a small package Mom sent to me.  It was a small crocheted wall hanging that said, "Jesus loves you, but He loves me more.".  That was Mom.  She had a terrific sense of humor.  Combine that with her talents and one never knew what she would cook up. After our folks retired they served 3 temple missions for our church at the Chicago Temple .  They paid their own way and loved every second of it.  Mom tatted a temple cloth - 3 foot by 5 foot - and sent it to one of our temples.  She got a letter back asking if she could make another because they had not received an alter cloth as beautiful as this one.  She made a total of 4 alter cloths for the temples.   I guess the last things I want to say about Mom is she had a great sense of humor.  She laughed at herself as well as others.  She was a great example.  She loved God, read the scriptures and went to church every Sunday.  She always did the right things, even if it was hard.

She is survived by her children; Dennis Guile, Katherine “Kitty” (Bruce) Hamlin, June Wright and  Theodore “Ted” (Jennifer) Guile; 24 grandchildren; and several great grandchildren; she was preceded in death by her parents; husband Deland Guile; six siblings; son Daniel “Dan” Guile and daughter Sandra “Sandy” Sue Guile; daughters-in-laws, Diane Guile and Katherine “Kathy” Guile; and a son-in-law Darrell Wright.

A graveside service will take place at 11am on Thursday September 23, 2021 at Fort Custer National Cemetery, 15501 Dickman Road Augusta MI 49012.  Memorial contributions are requested to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Missionary Fund.  Assistance with memorials is available at the Kempf Family Funeral and Cremation Services.  Leave a personal message for the family and sign the online guestbook at https://www.kempffuneralhome.com Funeral arrangements are entrusted to the Kempf Family Funeral and Cremation Services, 723 US Hwy 27 N, Marshall, MI 49068