Aug. 19, 1929 – Aug. 29, 2022
Carroll “Churn” DeWitt Seals, 93, of Cottage Grove, Ore. passed away Aug. 29, 2022. He was born Aug. 19, 1929 at home in Alpena, Ark. to parents DeWitt and Josie (Fitchue) Seals. Carroll attended and graduated from Alpena High School.
He married Lillie Mae Widner on Oct. 2, 1949 in Boone County, Ark. They celebrated 66 years of marriage until her passing in 2015.
He worked in the hayfields of Kansas and picked apples in Washington. He worked on the Dorena Dam with the Corps of Engineers, in Drain, Ore. and Cottage Grove, Ore. as an automotive mechanic.
Carroll was a co-owner with his brother Rex and worked as a mechanic at Seals Brothers Automotive Repair in Cottage Grove. He was a commercial fisherman of salmon and tuna based in Winchester Bay. His wife Lillie sold tuna from home.
Carroll enjoyed outdoor activities, sport fishing, bird hunting with his bird dog, deer and elk hunting, packing into remote lakes and hunting areas by horseback.
He enjoyed spending time with friends and family. Carroll loved meeting every Tuesday morning for coffee with a group of friends to get the latest information on who caught the biggest fish and what was happening in everyone’s life.
He enjoyed going out to dinner at Gayle’s almost every night and playing cribbage with Colby, but he reserved Friday for dinner at the Elks Lodge.
Carroll is survived by his daughter Gayle and Mark McFarland of Cottage Grove, Ore.; daughter Vickie and Greg Leathers of North Bend, Ore.; brother Robert Seals of Los Angeles, Calif.; sister Hazel Jean Leatherwood of Jonestown, Texas; four grandchildren, Gregory Leathers, Tobi Leathers, Colby McFarland, and Chelsea McFarland, six great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.
A graveside service was held Monday, Sept. 12, 2022 at Walker Cemetery. Arrangements are in the care of Smith-Lund-Mills Funeral Chapel and Crematorium.
