[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4512]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING WILLIAM ``BILL'' BLOIS SEAL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ALAN S. LOWENTHAL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 21, 2013

  Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I have known Judy Seal for many years and 
have respected, appreciated and admired her leadership on education 
issues in my district.
  It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of her father 
William ``Bill'' Blois Seal--a native Long Beach son who bravely served 
his country in war and later served his community as an educator for 
more than four decades.
  Bill was born at Seaside Hospital in 1924, attended schools in Long 
Beach and graduated from Wilson High School.
  Enlisting in the Army in 1942, Bill's youthful hobby of pigeoning led 
him to service as a Pigeoneer in the U.S. Army. Homing pigeons and 
their handlers served in all fronts of the war, often times providing 
communications when other means were not available or too unsecure.
  Bill was in the fourth wave to land at Omaha Beach during the 
Normandy Invasion and wound up spending his 20th birthday just days 
later in a foxhole on the Allied beachhead. He later served through the 
push across France and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the last 
major German offensive of the war.
  Selected for officer training, Bill's tour in Europe was cut short as 
he was sent back to the States. The war ended before Bill could be 
redeployed and he returned to Long Beach to continue his interrupted 
education.
  He entered Long Beach City College, and then moved on to the 
University of Southern California where he earned both undergraduate 
and Master's degrees in education.
  During this time, Bill married his high school sweetheart, Betty. 
They would remain married until her passing in 2011. They would go on 
to have three children: son Christopher and daughters Judy and Nancy.
  As a young educator, Bill joined the Long Beach Unified School 
District, becoming part of the original faculty at both Stanford Junior 
High and Millikan High schools. His career eventually took him to back 
to Long Beach City College, where he had begun his higher education and 
where his own father had worked as a Dean.
  At the end of his 43-year career in education, Bill had become a 
beloved figure in Long Beach, both for his educational work and for his 
work on behalf of Vietnam War veterans and the Cambodian community.
  Bill passed away on March 15, 2013 at Long Beach Community Hospital 
in the arms of his beloved daughter, Judy.

                          ____________________