The Honorable Judge William E. Seay, who left a legacy of caring and leadership throughout the Salem area, as well as the 42nd judicial system, died Jan. 29.
He was 91.
“If there ever was a retired judge who loved his community, it was Bill Seay,” said local historian Ken Fiebelman. “We shared a lot of memories about Salem and Dent County.”
Fiebelman said he and Judge Seay enjoyed talking about early Salem life during their regular visits at Fiebelman’s Ozark Heritage Museum. Both are lifelong Democrats, but they really never talked politics.
“He was just a nice guy to be around,” Fiebelman said. “He was always pleasant, a confident, congenial person and always upbeat about life.”
The news of Judge Seay’s death came early last Tuesday morning and saddened community leaders and residents alike.
In recognizing Judge Seay’s significant contributions in a remarkable life dedicated to civil and public service and the rule of law, many of his friends and local leaders were eager to offer personal tributes.
“He was a true professional, a real gentleman and the community has lost a distinguished citizen and a good friend,” retired Judge Sandy Ball said.
Lifelong friends, Judge Ball said that his father and Judge Seay were school classmates and the Ball and Seay children grew up in the same neighborhood on MacArthur Avenue.
Judge Seay served on The Bank of Salem Board of Directors since 1978 and had just been re-appointed. He actively attended and contributed to the board meetings, Ball said.
Best known as “Judge,” he was known and loved by virtually everyone who knew him.
His greatest passion was reading and golf, right up until his golf swing lost a little luster a couple of years ago so he finally gave it up.
“Judge Seay exemplified the qualities that made his generation great--- courage and persistence, coupled with kindness,” Attorney David Steelman said.
Steelman said that for more than a decade, beginning when he (Steelman) was in high school and continuing after he came back to Salem to practice law, Judge Seay and their late friend Bill Cornell, met almost every evening during the summer to play golf.
“I treasure those memories, where despite an unorthodox ten-fingered grip, the Judge more than held his own,” Steelman said. “Then, when I was elected to the legislature, even though we were opposite parties, he became a political mentor and helped teach me that people are more important than political parties.”
Steelman said he learned how to try cases in front of Judge Seay, where his patience and learning helped him through a lot of beginner's mistakes.
“Judge Seay was my first trial judge and he knew how to cut through legal posturing and procedure and make justice the aim of his trials. That may be the most important legal lesson I ever learned,” Steelman said. “Judge Seay was a great public servant, a learned and fair judge and a gentleman. But most importantly, he was one of the loveliest human beings I have ever known.”
Judge Seay served four terms as State Representative 129th District, from 1965 to 1978. He served as Dent County Prosecuting Attorney and Juvenile Officer in 1950, Salem City Attorney, had a private law practice in Salem and was elected and served as Circuit Judge in 1978 and 1984 and retired when his term expired in December of 1990.
His gentle manner, warm smile and sincerity cut through all social boundaries. Even after he retired he spent many hours at his law office and was a pro-bono legal advocate to those who needed it.
He graduated Salem High School in 1939. He entered Fayette College the same year and attended there for a year before transferring to the University of Missouri-Columbia where he studied two years before joining the Air Corps. He saw active duty during WWII as a fighter pilot as a member of the First Ari Squadron in the South Pacific. After discharge at the end of the war he returned to the University of Missouri and graduated in 1949. He passed the bar examination that summer and announced he was opening a law office in his hometown, where his grandfathers, Ed A. Seay and Robert Callahan, each were attorneys in Salem about the time of the Civil War and up until about 1900, according to an article in the September 1949 edition of The Salem Post.
His neighbor, Mark Bottomley, who now owns and is renovating Judge Seay’s old home place, Orchard House, said he learned valuable history about the home and Salem during visits with Judge Seay.
“Although law school and the war took him halfway around the world to serve his country with distinction in the Pacific theater as a fighter pilot in the powerful P-47 Thunderbolt, he returned to his hometown and never bragged of this exploits or of his accomplishments,” Bottomley said. “He did what he had to do for our country, returned home and otherwise spoke little of it. I will sorely miss our conversations on his back porch about history, philosophy and about life in general.”
Judge Seay married Shirley Anderson in 1950 and they had four children, Jeff, Elizabeth Condray and husband, Mike, and Andy, all of Salem, and Camm and wife, Sara, Steelville.
His longtime friends admired his longevity and his administrative accomplishments and his character as a judge, a leader and a person.
Shirley said his priorities were always his family. He loved all sports, including fishing, hunting, golf, tennis and always attended his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren’s sporting events, as recent as a month ago.
“I can remember many times years ago when he would give needed legal advice to people who couldn’t afford to pay. He would trade for eggs, a chicken or he’d say that maybe he would come hunt at their place or fish in their pond sometime in exchange. He was a softie,” his wife Shirley said. “We shared a love of family, of home, good jazz and classical music and books of all kinds and he was knowledgeable about so many things, kept up with family history as well as the latest space discoveries and he loved being outdoors.”
Colleagues, friends and family and the judicial community will attend a Celebration of Life Service for Judge Seay at 1 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Wilson Mortuary Salem Chapel.
“He was honored and respected by everybody. He touched all our lives. We lost a great human being,” Fiebelman said.
