Iona E. Seals

Iona E. Seals was born July 21, 1926 in Dumas, Arkansas to the union of Frank Estes and Ethel Burton. Iona, the eldest girl of 10 children left home at an early age. She moved to Kansas City, Kansas where she married William W.A. Seals Sr. and gave birth to 6 children, four boys and two girls inclusive of a set of twins. Iona had to leave school at a very early age to pick cotton to help her family. At her first opportunity she received her GED, attended Donnelly College and worked as a switchboard operator for the Red Cross.

Iona loved God and always taught her family to always put God First. She loved attending church and always had her children preparing on Saturday, shining shoes, ironing clothes ready for church on Sunday morning. She was well known for leading the testimony service in which we now cause praise and worship. We knew when she stepped out from behind the pews and headed toward the front that we were surely going to have a great service praising God. It seemed as though when she got up the praise party started. She always had a burning testimony telling how God had delivered and kept her all week.

Iona known as Mrs. Seals was the neighborhood barber and beautician. There was never a weekend that she wasn’t cutting the boys hair and straightening and curling hair. Some are barbers and beauticians today. She shared not only her faith but her food, hospitality and love for everyone in the neighborhood. After growing a garden and having picked the vegetables she would have us to take a bag next door to Mrs. Ford, take another bag down to Mrs. Lloyd, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Watson just to name a few. She never tired of helping people. When Jesus said, “We are to serve,” Sis Seals served. She always put others first and never thought about herself. She truly enjoyed helping others.

Iona is preceded in death by her husband, William W.A. Seals, Sr. her Mother and Father, Frank and Ethel Estes, brothers Thomas Estes, Eddie Estes, George Estes, Napoleon Estes, Sisters, Rosie Estes, Doris Estes, and one grandson Darryl Redmon, Jr.

Iona leaves to cherish her memory two sisters, twins Imogene Bordeaux, Clementine Stancil, one brother Cecil Estes, six children, Cheri Redmon St. Petersburg, Florida, Willard A. Seals, Jr. (Vickey) Arlington, Texas, Glen E. Seals, Plano Texas, Glenda P. Beal (Billy), Kansas City, Kansas, Jeffrey L. Seals, Dallas, Texas and Carl L. Seals, Kansas City, Kansas, 11 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, family and friends.

Visitation will be 12PM, with services to follow at 1PM, Tuesday, February 21 at Park Lawn Funeral Home, 8251 Hillcrest Rd., Kansas City, Missouri; burial in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Visitation will be 12PM, with services to follow at 1PM, Tuesday, February 21 at Park Lawn Funeral Home, 8251 Hillcrest Rd., Kansas City, Missouri; burial in Memorial Park Cemetery.