July 12, 1921 – May 11, 2016

Jean Isobel Seeley was born July 12, 1921 to Robert Cook and Jean Ramsay Cook in Portland, Oregon.

The family soon moved to Seattle where her father worked as a pressman for the Seattle Times for most of his career. She was an avid Girl Scout growing up and she was fond of remembering that when she needed a sleeping bag for scouting trips, her father took her to Eddie Bauer’s original store on First Avenue in Seattle and they were waited on by Mr. Bauer himself.

The family suffered financially during the Depression and lost their home. Her father found a position working as greenskeeper at the Wayne Golf Course in Kenmore that included living quarters.

After graduating from Bothell High School, she attended the University of Washington and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in nursing in February 1944. Her first nursing employment was at Harborview.

Later in 1944, she married Frank Edward Seeley, whom she had known since her first day at Bothell High School, and the two began a lifetime of adventures together. They spent the summer of 1946 staffing a fire lookout in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (probably Evergreen Mountain). Shortly after, they moved to Port Townsend where Frank began teaching at the high school.

After several years in Port Townsend (with summers in New York while Frank was working on a master’s degree at Columbia Teachers College) they were able to spend a year on a Fulbright teaching exchange in the town of Assen, in the Netherlands during 1952-53. This turned out to be a difficult year in the Netherlands with extensive flooding that resulted in many deaths and thousands of displaced families. Fortunately Assen was on high ground, so Isobel and Frank were able to help their neighbors to aid and harbor many refugees.

They returned to Seattle in the fall of 1953 where Isobel began work as a public health nurse and Frank began teaching at Ballard High School. After several years in Seattle, Frank again heeded the call of higher education and the family moved to the San Francisco Bay area while he studied at the Stanford School of Education.

Isobel first worked at the Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital, but eventually ended up working as a school nurse for the Campbell, California School District for 25 years. In the meantime, Frank worked for the Palo Alto School District, where he became the principal of Jordan Junior High School, and later, principal of Cubberley High School. After about 25 years living on the Stanford campus, in Palo Alto, and finally in Portola Valley, they retired and moved to North Fork, California to be near their grandchildren as they were growing up.

As the grandchildren got older and the demands of maintaining eight acres in the Sierra foothills became too great, Isobel and Frank returned to the Northwest and bought a home on Bainbridge Island to renew old friendships and be closer to the rest of their families.

Frank died in December 2000, after more than 56 years of marriage. Isobel remained in her home for several years, thanks to the help she received from Kathryn Ritualo, who started out as Isobel’s housecleaner and later became her daily companion for the rest of her life. She then lived at the Wyatt House for eight years. And as her needs for extra care grew, she moved to Martha & Mary in Poulsbo for the past two years where she benefited from the attentions of their caring staff; and finally, over the last six months, additional care she received from Multicare Hospice.

Isobel was highly intelligent and had many interests. She loved to cook and entertain. Her personal collection of recipes from family and other sources is a true slice of culinary history. She loved the theatre and music, was an avid reader, and a seasoned world traveler. She also carried a highly developed sense of justice. Several of her classmates in nursing school were of Japanese American descent, and she never got over the treatment her friends and their families received at the hands of the U.S. government during World War II.

Isobel is survived by sons Morgan (Anne) of Bainbridge Island, and Dirk (Ruth Ann) of Chowchilla, California; and grandsons Ben (Tracey), Budd (Christine) and Ted; and five great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Isobel’s life is planned and will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial (www.bijac.org).

Please sign the online guestbook at www.cookfamilyfuneral.com