Newcomer Family Obituaries - Elaine K. Sellers 1937 - 2023 - Newcomer Cremations, Funerals & Receptions.

Obituary photo of Elaine Sellers, Dayton-OH

In Loving Memory of

Elaine K. Sellers

1937 - 2023

In Loving Memory of

Elaine K. Sellers

1937 - 2023

Services & Gatherings

Visitation:

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 from 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Newcomer - Beavercreek Chapel
3380 Dayton-Xenia Road
Beavercreek, OH 45432
937-429-4700

Directions & Map

Newcomer - Beavercreek Chapel (937-429-4700) is assisting the family

Elaine K. Sellers, 85, passed away on March 15, 2023. Loving mother of Gary (Christine) Wheeler and Darrin Wheeler, cherished grandmother of Celeste (Nick) Polsinelli and Azai Wheeler and beloved great grandmother of Sydney, Layla, Leiland and Vivian.

Elaine was preceded in death by her parents Arthur and Vera Keyer, her brother Jimmy Keyer and her beloved dog Rosie.

Public visitation will be held at Newcomer Funeral Home (3380 Dayton-Xenia Rd.) on Tuesday March 21st, 2023 from 4:30 pm until 6:00 pm. She will be laid to rest at Mt. Zion Park Cemetery. Please consider a donation in Elaine's memory to SICSA (https://www.sicsa.org/give/).

Services & Gatherings

Visitation:

Tuesday, March 21, 2023 from 4:30pm to 6:00pm
Newcomer - Beavercreek Chapel
3380 Dayton-Xenia Road
Beavercreek, OH 45432
937-429-4700

Directions & Map

Newcomer - Beavercreek Chapel (937-429-4700) is assisting the family

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Memories & Condolences

No memories of Elaine would be complete without her dogs! Elaine loved dogs and gave homes to many strays. When I first met her around 1973 she had Mitzi, a black Pekinese, and Wiggles, a chihuahua. Mitzi was named after the dancer, Mitzi Gaynor because she would put her front feet up on a person and dance around on her back feet. Both Mitzi and Wiggles were strays who had wandered into Elaine's yard looking for help and found forever homes.

By the time Elaine and I were married several years later Wiggles had passed away and Mitzi was getting up in dog years, although it turned out she lived for several more years. In any case, Elaine bought a pedigreed black Pekinese from a breeder, who we named Mindy. Mindy had a reddish brown colored sister named Amber who didn't sell, and Elaine bought her a year or so later so she and Mindy and Amber could keep each other company.

Needless to say all the Pekineses slept with us, and Pekineses snore unbelievably loud for a little dog! But there is nothing more peaceful than the sound of a snoring Pekinese. Although maybe I placed a little too much confidence in the dogs' nighttime alertness. One night I awoke to a loud THUMP!. Imagine the sound of a 20 pound bag of flour being dropped from bed height to a carpeted hardwood floor! All the Pekineses were snoring contentedly but I figured I had better get up and investigate. Mindy had fallen off the bed and was peacefully snoring away on the carpet, apparently not even having waked up!

I have a theological theory that dogs are angels sent down from Heaven to show us how much God loves us. Because their lives on earth are shorter than ours, I figure they go back to Heaven and report back on the people they have met. If I'm right, Elaine showed up at the pearly gates to a forest of furiously wagging tails and Saint Peter said, "Come one in--we know all about you!"

~ John Sellers - March 19, 2023

We are so sorry for the loss of Elaine. She was our friend and neighbor for the last 22 years. We will miss her stories about Gary and Darren and her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She spoke highly of them and was especially proud of her sons. Rest in peace friend ?

~ Susan and Joe Wilson - March 18, 2023

The obituary doesn’t tell much about Elaine’s life, so I thought I would share some thoughts from the time we were married, approximately 1977 through 1990. By way of explanation, I was her third and last husband. The first was Gary and Darrin’s father, Melvin Wheeler. After that she was briefly married to Ross Ellis.

Elaine adored her father , who was chief process engineer for Master Electric (an electric motor manufacturer) through WW II. They were self-reliant country folk. Elaine liked to relate the story that her dad stopped off on the way home from work one day and found out he couldn’t buy the groceries he had wanted to get because he didn’t have the necessary ration coupons. The next weekend he started building a chicken house. By the end of the war they were selling vegetables from their garden, chicken, and eggs from a stand in their front yard. Tragically, her father died too young when Elaine was in her early teens.

I first met Elaine around 1973 when she was administrative assistant for the Electronic Image Systems Group at Systems Research Laboratories. She was very good at the job, taking care of travel arrangements, conference registrations, etc. Also a prodigious amount of typing. Nowadays with everyone having computers, smart phones, and the internet, everyone takes care of these details themselves—and it is not always an improvement . Over the years Elaine worked for SRL, SRL Medical, Applications Research Corp, and Systems and Applied Sciences Corporation (SASC).

The year after I stared at SRL the Xenia Tornado hit in April, 1974. The night of the tornado, SRL shut down and provided emergency food and shelter for employees and their neighbors. The next day the call went out for lanterns, tents, sleeping bags, camp stoves, water containers, etc which those of us unaffected contributed piles of. Elaine’s house had only minor damage, but water, electric, and gas were all shut off. We were all mighty glad to see Elaine when she came into the office a couple of days later with water jugs to fill. She and her kids had rigged up rain barrels for water for washing and toilet flushing, and were getting by with lanterns and candles for light. In a few more days the power, water, and gas were back on and life returned more or less to normal.

One thing led to another and after a few years Elaine and I were married. This made me stepfather to two fine stepsons for whom I could provide a role model (?) Those teen age years were not easy, but we all survived!

Elaine had always wanted to dance, so I signed us up for introductory dance lessons at Pearl and Jim Grefer’s Gemini Dance Studio. Pearl’s talent was such that, like most of her students, we signed up planning just to take the introductory course, and then danced with her for years. Elaine and I not only danced with the group, but did formations and solo exhibitions as well, so we were well known in the Dayton ballroom dancing community. (Ironiclaly, Pearl (now Petachi) passed away just a few weeks ago.)

~ John Sellers - March 18, 2023