Joe and Deb Seili mark 50 years of wedded bliss at Brussels Legion

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

On Saturday night, at a packed Brussels Legion, Joe and Deb Seili, long-time staples of the Brussels community through everything from local business to governance to community service, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, surrounded with family members, friends, neighbours and former colleagues.

 

Deborah Demaray of RR2, Bluevale, the daughter of Max and Evelyn Demaray, married Monkton’s Joseph Seili, the son of Ellwood and Beatrice Seili, on Nov. 8, 1975. They were married at the United Church in Bluevale by Rev. Wilena Brown, and a reception at the Turnberry Tavern in Wingham followed. Attendants were Judy Nicholson, Sharon (Bell) Wilson, Jane (Seili) Rock, Larry Jacobs, Larry Rock and Rick Demaray.

 

The couple went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon and returned to Listowel to live in an apartment before moving to Brussels in 1977.

 

Joe began work as a silo builder at DeJong’s of Monkton before founding Huron Feeding Systems in 1978. Deb would eventually work as a bookkeeper for nearly 50 years. They both retired from Huron Feeding Systems in 2021, selling the business in June of this year after 45 years of dedicated service to the local community and beyond.

 

They had three children: Jacquie Waechter, Michael Seili of Alberta and Christine Seili-Quehe. They also now have six grandchildren - Tim, Derrick, Hailie, Kayla, Stephanee and Rachael - and one great-grandchild: Blakley.

 

Over the years, the pair has been involved in local politics, the Brussels Optimist Club and the Brussels Legion, in addition to quiet dinners and travels together.

 

Their children organized the anniversary party in the summer to avoid winter-related travel issues in November, bringing together new and old friends and family members from across the continent, including a group of 12 friends who all dated in the 1970s and remain married to their respective spouses to this day.