Paula June Whitescarver Seaman was born on February 20, 1939 in Baxter Springs, Kansas. She was known as a tomboy growing up playing sports with the boys, but by her high school years was an accomplished ballerina that once danced for the governor of Kansas. Once she graduated from high school, she moved to Chicago and went to work in the emerging airlines industry in flight operations with United Airlines located at Midway airport. One of her roommates had a brother, Wendell, to whom she was introduced, and she and Wendell, married in Baxter Springs on July 24, 1960, and moved to Des Moines, Iowa to begin their life together. After their first child was born, Paula transitioned into being a full-time mother, and she and the family moved to Allen, Texas for a job opportunity in 1965. In addition to being a mom to three kids, she was active in the community as a room mother and PTA leader, helped to start the Allen Camp Fire Girls and was a Camp Fire troop leader for several years, helped start the Allen public swimming pool, was a member of a long running ladies bridge club started in 1965, and was an accomplished craftsman in ceramics and crochet, was a seamstress, and a painter. She was an avid sportsman playing golf and tennis, she was a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan since their inception in the early 1960s, loved country music and cats, and was an active lifelong member of the United Methodist Church where she served as a Stephen Minister for several years. Paula passed away from complications of Parkinson’s disease on June 12, 2024.
Paula was preceded in death by her mother, Violet Thompson Whitescarver; sister, Shirley Whitescarver Keen; sister, Diana Kay Whitescarver; and son-in-law, Donald Wyant.
She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Wendell Seaman; children, Belinda (Mark), Janell, and Brent; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and many brothers and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, and lifelong friends.
A celebration of Paula’s life will be held at 10:00 a.m., Monday, June 24, 2024 at the First United Methodist Church, 315 Church Street, McKinney, Texas 75069. For those who cannot attend in person, the memorial service will also be livestreamed via Ceremonies - First Methodist McKinney (sharingtheheart.org) – click the link for Paula Seaman once it is posted.
For those wishing to commemorate her life, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Shiloh Place in McKinney, Texas (Hope and a Future for Single Mom - Shiloh Place Mckinney) or to the Stephen Ministry at the First United Methodist Church in McKinney, Texas (Home - First Methodist McKinney (sharingtheheart.org).