A life well lived - Wilbert Seidel, 1909 - 2014
We were home one week after our seven week trip before we hopped in the car again and drove to Illinois to attend Wilbert Seidel's memorial service in north shore Chicagoland, which was very well attended and a true tribute to a great man. Wilbert was Donna's great uncle on her mother's side and a truly wonderful and inspirational human being. I only became acquainted with Wilbert in his later years. During the time when I was still employed, for a number of years I flew back to Illinois to visit my family several times a year. I would always end my time in greater Chicagoland with a visit to Evanston and a wonderful multi hour fireside chat with Wilbert followed by lunch and more conversation, before I would head to O'Hare for my flight home. We discussed all sorts of topics, but particularly focused on the subjects most of us avoid, politics and religion. We soon found we shared many of the same views and as Wilbert was a bit of a "black sheep" within his family (i.e. his growing up family, not his wife and children; he was beloved by his family though in spite of his breaking from his Lutheran heritage) he seemed to be very pleased to have someone related, even if it was by marriage that he could freely discuss these topics. I cherished those times together, and viewed him as a hero. He lived a very long and productive life (see his obituary below), but for all his professional accomplishments (and there were many), it was his basic humanity, his love of life and his wonderful spirit that so endeared him to me. He was mentally sharp and very healthy at least through age 101, perhaps 102, when finally he began to fade in his last few years. I use him as my example all the time, when people say to me, oh they would never want to live to be 100, and I say, if you could live your life as Wilbert did thru age 100, you would be thrilled to live so long.
So here's to us, and those like us, damn few (cheers Wilbert - he loved his manhattans).
Wilbert Albert Seidel was born September 29, 1909, in Joplin, Missouri, and was raised in Freeport, Illinois. His family moved to Chicago in 1927 when his father, the Rev. Louis Seidel, received a call to St. James Lutheran Church. ** As a boy, he remembered during WW I it was strange to hear his parents, who spoke German with the family, speak English on the street to avoid arousing suspicion or malice. When armistice was announced, he recalled joining the spontaneous neighborhood parades. ** Seidel showed an early talent for art but his professional prospects in small-town Freeport were limited. The move to Chicago at age 18 changed his life. He enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute and was graduated in 1931. ** He received his B.S. from Northwestern University in 1935 and his M.A. in the history of art in 1942. He taught at NU from 1939 to 1977, retiring as professor emeritus. In the 1940s and 50s he established the first NU courses in graphic arts/printing and the history and practice of letter forms. He became the first chairperson of the department of art when the till-then single department was split in two in 1972. He was also director of university publications from 1956-65. ** Before beginning his teaching career, Seidel spent several years as publication designer for Jewel Tea Company in Barrington and as Art Director of Rotarian Magazine. ** He served in the Navy for the duration of World War II and was stationed at Great Lakes in North Chicago, where he did architectural drafting, drew maps, and designed visual aids for service schools. In hopes of avoiding combat, he also became certified in principles of camouflage at the School of Design in Chicago [later IIT] under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. ** In 1942 Seidel married Winifred Case, also a Chicago area artist. They collaborated on many art as well as literary projects until her death. (See Chicago Tribune obituary dated September 18, 1999.) In 1947 they moved to Evanston and became members of All Souls Unitarian Church. Seidel was head of the architecture committee for design of the new building on Ridge Avenue in 1955-58. In 1963 he became one of the founding members (and until now the last surviving one) of the Lake Shore Unitarian Society in Winnetka, where he and his wife were active for many decades. ** Seidel received a Ford Foundation Grant in 1951-52 to help revise the NU Department of Art curriculum in theory and practice and visited art departments around the country to observe methods of teaching design. During this time he spent several months studying with Joseph Albers at Yale University and became especially interested in the study and teaching of color. ** He came from a musical family and he and all of his siblings became members of the Chicago Bach Chorus from the time of their arrival in Chicago until it was disbanded at the start of WW II. He often enjoyed telling about the thrill of hearing Rachmaninoff play his own piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor (opus 18) at Orchestra Hall in 1932 and reported that the audience stood on their seats, clapping. ** Seidel was nominated to join the Society of Typographic Arts in 1939 when he was only 30. Chicago calligraphers will find it interesting that he was in the first Newberry Library Calligraphy study group conducted by Ernst Detterer for the Society and developed a life-long interest in the history of letterforms. Seidel was a member of the Caxton Club in Chicago since 1964. He was an early member of the Board of Directors of the Evanston Art Center. He had a life-long interest in questions of religion and philosophy and was for many years a faithful attendee of courses at Common Ground in Deerfield. ** Seidel died at his long-time Evanston home on July 28, 2014. He is survived by a son Mark, of Tübingen, Germany, and a daughter Renata, of Washington, DC. ** Services will be held August 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka IL. ** In lieu of flowers, donations to your local library or favorite charity will be appreciated.
Place of birth: Joplin, Missouri
Place of death: Evanston, Illilnois
Old photos courtesy of Renny Seidel.
So here's to us, and those like us, damn few (cheers Wilbert - he loved his manhattans).
Wilbert's obituary
Wilbert Albert Seidel was born September 29, 1909, in Joplin, Missouri, and was raised in Freeport, Illinois. His family moved to Chicago in 1927 when his father, the Rev. Louis Seidel, received a call to St. James Lutheran Church. ** As a boy, he remembered during WW I it was strange to hear his parents, who spoke German with the family, speak English on the street to avoid arousing suspicion or malice. When armistice was announced, he recalled joining the spontaneous neighborhood parades. ** Seidel showed an early talent for art but his professional prospects in small-town Freeport were limited. The move to Chicago at age 18 changed his life. He enrolled in the Chicago Art Institute and was graduated in 1931. ** He received his B.S. from Northwestern University in 1935 and his M.A. in the history of art in 1942. He taught at NU from 1939 to 1977, retiring as professor emeritus. In the 1940s and 50s he established the first NU courses in graphic arts/printing and the history and practice of letter forms. He became the first chairperson of the department of art when the till-then single department was split in two in 1972. He was also director of university publications from 1956-65. ** Before beginning his teaching career, Seidel spent several years as publication designer for Jewel Tea Company in Barrington and as Art Director of Rotarian Magazine. ** He served in the Navy for the duration of World War II and was stationed at Great Lakes in North Chicago, where he did architectural drafting, drew maps, and designed visual aids for service schools. In hopes of avoiding combat, he also became certified in principles of camouflage at the School of Design in Chicago [later IIT] under the direction of László Moholy-Nagy. ** In 1942 Seidel married Winifred Case, also a Chicago area artist. They collaborated on many art as well as literary projects until her death. (See Chicago Tribune obituary dated September 18, 1999.) In 1947 they moved to Evanston and became members of All Souls Unitarian Church. Seidel was head of the architecture committee for design of the new building on Ridge Avenue in 1955-58. In 1963 he became one of the founding members (and until now the last surviving one) of the Lake Shore Unitarian Society in Winnetka, where he and his wife were active for many decades. ** Seidel received a Ford Foundation Grant in 1951-52 to help revise the NU Department of Art curriculum in theory and practice and visited art departments around the country to observe methods of teaching design. During this time he spent several months studying with Joseph Albers at Yale University and became especially interested in the study and teaching of color. ** He came from a musical family and he and all of his siblings became members of the Chicago Bach Chorus from the time of their arrival in Chicago until it was disbanded at the start of WW II. He often enjoyed telling about the thrill of hearing Rachmaninoff play his own piano Concerto No. 2 in c minor (opus 18) at Orchestra Hall in 1932 and reported that the audience stood on their seats, clapping. ** Seidel was nominated to join the Society of Typographic Arts in 1939 when he was only 30. Chicago calligraphers will find it interesting that he was in the first Newberry Library Calligraphy study group conducted by Ernst Detterer for the Society and developed a life-long interest in the history of letterforms. Seidel was a member of the Caxton Club in Chicago since 1964. He was an early member of the Board of Directors of the Evanston Art Center. He had a life-long interest in questions of religion and philosophy and was for many years a faithful attendee of courses at Common Ground in Deerfield. ** Seidel died at his long-time Evanston home on July 28, 2014. He is survived by a son Mark, of Tübingen, Germany, and a daughter Renata, of Washington, DC. ** Services will be held August 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave., Winnetka IL. ** In lieu of flowers, donations to your local library or favorite charity will be appreciated.
Place of birth: Joplin, Missouri
Place of death: Evanston, Illilnois
Old photos courtesy of Renny Seidel.
With sister Ruth in southern Missouri
With sister Ruth in southern Missouri
With sister Ruth in Emma, Missouri
With our daughter Kirsten in our house
Signing our guest book
With daughter Renny at our house
Two fisted Manhattan drinking (he was joking around)
With sister Ruth at Echo Lake, CO
With sister Ruth at Echo Lake, CO
With sister Ruth and daughter Renny at Echo Lake, CO
With Donna in Emma, MO
In Emma, MO
With Donna and Renny in Emma, MO
Our family wit Wilbert, Renny and Mark in Evanston, IL
Wilbert and me just before heading out to O'Hare following one of our fireside chats
Wilbert in Evanston
Donna with Wilbert in his last year
Wilbert (100) and Ruth (101) at his 100th birthday
Wilbert at his 100th
Family gathered for his 100th
Donna and Renny with Wilbert at his 100th
Donna with Wilbert at his 100th
Donna with Wilbert at his 100th
Renny with Wilbert visiting Ruth in her last years
Wilbert, Renny, and Mark in UP Michigan
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