Leila Seals

Leila Mae Seals (nee Hegwood) was born to a generation that probably saw the most broad changes in human history. Her early school years saw her use a slate tablet, then in her later years she would video call her great-great grandchildren on an even smaller electronic device. Born 12 years before the start of World War II and same year as the first phone call between London and New York, Leila would grow up with her mother Cora Bell, brother Kenneth and extended McElhenney family in Mississippi. She would often tell stories of picking cotton and farm work as a child. One of her first memories was riding on the back of a horse-drawn wagon pulling the cow.

In her teen years she met the man that would become her husband, Calvin Seals. Too young to marry, an aunt and a sailor (a stranger they had convinced to help them) posed as Leila and Calvin to obtain a marriage license. Leila and Calvin remained a loving and feisty couple until his passing 63 years later. As a supportive husband in 1952, he urged Leila to take up a trade so she would be a wholly self-supportive woman if anything were to ever happen to him. She studied cosmetology and became a successful salon owner while raising 3 children: Larry, Treisha and Gayle. Her life was kept busy with her work, family life, church, her hobby of an immaculately kept, flower-planted front yard and also kept busy with grandchildren Oliver, Kim, Eric, Jessica, Anna Mary, Yancey and Gabrielle. While living in Daphne, AL she proudly saw her family grow to include her great-grand children, Caleb, Kindred, Nolan, Aidyn, Zack, Claire, Cathy, Kristan, and Kasey and great-great grandchildren, William, Foster, Ryleigh, and Ansley. After her husband’s passing and as a steadfast believer in Christ, Leila would often say  “I’m ready. Any time.” She joined her beloved mother and husband December 20, 2021. 

Funeral services will be held at 2:00pm on Wednesday, December 22, 2021 at the Daphne chapel of Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Homes. The family will receive friends two hours prior to the service. 

In lieu of flowers, please donate in honor of Leila to Christ Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 8450 Whispering Pines Rd., Daphne, AL 36526.