Shirley Seeley; Officer of Glendale Symphony

Shirley Seeley, who was the unpaid executive officer and guiding spirit of the Glendale Symphony for almost two decades, has died after a long battle with cancer. She was 60.

Mrs. Seeley died Tuesday at her home in Glendale. Her mother, Pearl Shandorf, and a son, George Seeley Jr., were at her side.

Under Mrs. Seeley’s vigorous leadership, the 69-year-old Glendale Symphony and its all-volunteer support association were major social institutions in Glendale, called upon to organize benefits for openings of restaurants, department stores and the city’s Red Lion Hotel.

“She was the driving giant force in the orchestra,” said music director and conductor Lalo Schifrin. “She had a capacity of organization and administration that was amazing, from the most minute detail to the most important thing, like negotiating with agents for the soloists.”

Mrs. Seeley took personal responsibility for every aspect of the symphony--even driving to the airport to pick up performers--but never questioned a musical decision, Schifrin said.

Mrs. Seeley was born and raised in Atwater, just south of Glendale. Her volunteer experience began at age 9, when she swept floors for the Red Cross.

“I got a 100-hour pin from them and I still treasure it,” she once told her longtime office assistant, Bobbie Olson.

After marrying George Seeley, owner of the Seeley Furniture Store in Glendale, she worked in the PTA, the Cub Scouts and other youth programs when their two sons were growing up. She joined the Symphony’s Women’s Committee in 1963.

In 1976, Symphony Assn. President Ray Edwards, the chief executive officer of Glendale Savings, appointed her vice president in charge of administration, the position she held until her death. The association is responsible for maintaining membership and raising funds to support six concerts a year in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center.

The symphony held a gala in her honor May 8, but Mrs. Seeley was too ill to attend.

In addition to her mother, husband and son George Jr., she is survived by another son, Bradley.

Services are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Church of the Recessional, Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Glendale. The family has requested that any memorial donations be made to the Shirley Seeley Memorial Fund, Glendale Symphony Assn., 401 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 520, Glendale, Calif. 91203.