Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

July 13, 2019

Mary Ann Shaw Seeberg died peacefully on Saturday, July 13, 2019 in Charlotte, NC, eleven days shy of her 94^th birthday, holding hands with Bill, her loving husband of 70 years. Survived by her seven children: Mark (Patty), Bill (Paula), Jim (Colleen), Kate (the late Lee) Garvey, Dan (Susan), Gina, and Tom (Mary); 17 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren; sister, Jeannie Carpenter and brother, Joseph Shaw; and countless nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews.

Born on July 24, 1925 in Stuart, Iowa, the daughter of William Shaw and Kathryn Thielen, the second of four children, Mary Ann was shaped by life on a farm during the American Dust Bowl and Great Depression, a rough and tumble time of kerosene lanterns, unrelenting work, and neighbors who often faced foreclosure. This fact did not leave Mary Ann’s own children with much room to complain. “Offer it up,” she would often exhort them!

The family persevered and, indeed, thrived, supported by their Catholic faith and loyalty to one another. Mary Ann graduated from tiny Farrar High School in 1943, one of only four seniors that year, and pursued her college degree first at St. Mary of the Woods College in Terre Haute, Indiana, then at Mundelein College in Chicago, where she earned a degree in biology in preparation for a career in teaching. There she met her future husband, Bill Seeberg, who was finishing his college days at Loyola University after serving as a lieutenant in the Marine Corps during the Second World War. Their first date was at a Loyola basketball game in old Alumni Gym.

In 1948, they married and settled into their new life together, only to be interrupted in 1950 when Bill was recalled to active duty during the Korean War. Over the next two years, they ferried between the coasts with two children in tow, first in California where Bill was assigned duty on the naval base on Coronado Island, then to Quantico, Virginia where he served as an instructor in the Officer Basic School. Housing for married officers with children was especially tight; they moved over a dozen times.

Finally, with the end of the war, Mary Ann and Bill returned to Chicago and peace-time normalcy. In 1955, they moved to the northern suburbs, eventually putting down roots in Northfield, where they raised their children for over thirty years. With retirement, they moved to Lake Lure, North Carolina in the mountains between Charlotte and Asheville.

Mary Ann was an extrovert with the gift of gab, who loved a good laugh and greatly enjoyed any gathering of family and friends. She loved to take long walks and did so at a rapid clip well into her 90s. She was a terrific athlete, first as a tenacious defender during her high school’s run in the famous Iowa State Girls’ Basketball Tournament, later as an offensive threat when her college coach discovered her running one-handed jump shot. In her mid-fifties, she took up tennis and, within several years, she and Bill reached the finals in the mixed doubles championship at Sunset Ridge Country Club.

Mary Ann was an inveterate clipper of articles, requiring each child to read and share and discuss what they had learned at the family dinner table. She hated computers.

She challenged her children to be inquisitive, to be kind to others, to remember those who had nothing. She was at her best in a crisis, when grace and practical wisdom and faith were most needed. She was a tireless advocate for the unborn and their right to life.

Mary Ann was first and last a mother, who loved nothing more than holding a child in her lap with gentle ease, a joyful smile on her face. She was the center of her family’s life, a model of strength, dignity, character, and love.

Stunningly beautiful, Mary Ann lived this life to the fullest, with great faith in the next. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 at 10:30 AM at St. Philip the Apostle Church, 1962 Old Willow Rd., Northfield, IL. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. Interment will be private at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Northbrook.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Chicago’s Aid For Women, 8 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1418, Chicago, IL 60603 or https://www.helpaidforwomen.org/donatenow

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606 and John E. Maloney Funeral Directors, 1359 West Devon Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com or www.maloneyfuneralhome.com.