Joe Seed, Salina
Obituary for Joe Seed | Ryan Mortuary
March 28, 1939 ~ October 31, 2022 (age 83)
Joe Seed, a longtime Salina insurance agent and beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, died Oct. 31, 2022. He was 83.
He was born Frankie Joe Seed on March 28, 1939, in Vincennes, Ind., the town with the nearest hospital to his parents’ home in Bridgeport, Ill. His family moved often when he was a child between the Detroit area and southern Illinois.
Joe graduated from Waterford Township High School in Michigan in 1957 and joined the U.S. Navy.
On Aug. 30, 1958, he married Karen O’Connor, in Oxford, Mich. They lived in San Diego and Great Lakes, Ill., while Joe was in the Navy. When he left the service in 1961, they moved to Hutchinson, where his parents had relocated.
Joe took a job with Prudential Insurance in Hutchinson, transferring to Salina in 1967. He was a sales manager at Prudential for a decade, then an independent agent, before he joined State Farm in 1982. He was active in the Kansas Association of Life Underwriters and held several offices, including president. He served several years as treasurer for the state organization.
Joe was an avid outdoorsman, a voracious reader, a proud supporter of the NAACP and a long-suffering Detroit Lions fan. He loved the music of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, always wore red socks and always voted Democrat. He had an Irishman’s gift for storytelling, and like any good Irishman’s, his stories got a little more dramatic every time he told them. As his family can attest, he practiced. A lot.
Joe always wanted to be a cowboy.
In addition to his wife of 64 years, he’s survived by three children: Gaye Coburn (Mike) of Wichita, Joel Seed (Suzy) of Salina and Shawna Seed (Rick Holter) of Pagosa Springs, Colo. Joe had five grandchildren: Sean Coburn (Melinda) of Firestone, Colo., Cara O’Crowley (Matt) of Wichita, Shannon Shuler (Chris) of Salina, Seth Seed (Tara) of Salina and Stetson Seed of Salina. Among his other survivors are 11 great-grandchildren: Phoenix, Adaira, Brec and Stetson Coburn of Firestone, Colo., Lydia Coburn of Wichita, Dakota and Raelyn Shuler of Salina, Jaylah Buchanan of Texas, Jaxsen and Jexa Seed and their mother Madison Cox of Abilene, and Sami Jo Seed of Salina.
There will be a memorial service at 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4th, at Ryan Mortuary, 137 North Eighth Street, Salina. The family will receive friends from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Sunflower Ballroom at the Holiday Inn, 3145 South Ninth Street, Salina.
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joe Seed, please visit our floral store.