MARY E. SEYMOUR

Mary Elizabeth (Lizzy) Seymour was born on August 8, 1922 to William and Annie (Green) Pearson and raised in Lower Roxbury. She passed on June 19, 2018 in Boston Massachusetts.

Lizzy attended St. Regis where she received honors in elocution and oration, and often spoke for the school’s special events.  After graduating, she met her husband, the late William Zacchaeus Seymour, a native of Cat Island, Bahamas.  She fell in love and married her beloved at the tender age of 18. They gave birth to thirteen beautiful children. She left work and became a devoted mother and house wife.

In the 1970’s, the family relocated to Dorchester and were one of the first African-American families to settle in Field’s Corner. She became an advocate of peaceful integration. In her words, “You can put a dog and a cat in the same room, and they will fight, but later on will become best friends.” She cherished the ocean, the wind, the waves, and all things living, including her cats, dogs, birds and her many species of plants.

Averaging one book a week, she enjoyed mysteries, fiction, nonfiction and discussing the Bible, and was frequently seen waving her finger and stomping her feet to the jazz and blues songs of Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. When her hearing and sight deteriorated, she was deeply saddened and unable to read but enjoyed telling stories.  In her own words, “I would run my mouth.”

Dedicated to family, she is reunited with those who preceded her in death: her husband William; her daughters Aliyah, and Deborah; her brothers Joseph, William, Lawrence (Edna), and James.

She lives on through the lives of her family: Frederick (Jean), Marie (Leroy), David, Beatrice, Carol (Billie), Lisa (Kenneth) Paul (Denise), James, William (Kyong), Peter (Sonya), Tootsie, Robert (Fannie L), Leona (Clyde), and Phyllis (James). She leaves behind 35 plus grandchildren, 25 plus great-great-grandchildren.

Tiani Elizabeth, the most recent great-grand, was born the same hour, in the same hospital, during the time Lizzy transitioned into peace – the peace that surpasses all understanding.

She leaves behind a host of loving relatives, and friends.

Arrangements by Mann & Rodgers Funeral Home, Jamaica Plain

Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Katherine Drexel Church

517 Blue Hill Avenue, Dorchester MA

Visiting Hour at the church 10AM – 11AM

Mass:11AM

Guestbook@mannandrodgers.com

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