Cornelia Gayle Seeds

Cornelia Gayle Seeds, age 88, of Pickerington, Ohio, entered heaven on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, after a long and bravely fought battle against breast cancer.  She passed away at home, surrounded by her loving husband of 68 years and their three children.

Gayle was born February 12, 1938 in Highland County, Ohio, the daughter of a dairy farmer, the late Heber E. King and the late Cornelia Store King.  Gayle often spoke fondly of her days in the milking parlor with their 30 cows, from the time she “was 10 years old until she was 18”.  In addition to her parents, Gayle was preceded in death by her older sister, Sarah Ellen King Hall, her brother, James Lacy King, and her three half sisters, Mary King Miller, Betty King Abbott, and Jane King VanPelt; her mother-in-law and father-in-law, Madelon and Keith Seeds; and her brother-in-law, John Seeds.    

Gayle’s adventures through life took her from the small farm in Highland County, to Columbus, Ohio at age 18 where she lived with her dear sister Sarah at the YWCA.  That big step led Gayle to a teller’s job at the downtown Huntington National Bank and to meeting a sweet and quiet man, Melvin K. Seeds, a dental student at Ohio State University, whom she married a year and a half later on March 22, 1958, just after her 20th birthday.  Melvin’s graduation from dental school was followed by the birth of their first two children, Jeffrey Keith Seeds and Janet Ellen Seeds, and Melvin’s enlistment into the US Airforce. This led to a short but snowy two-year stint on Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.    

Gayle and her growing family soon returned to Reynoldsburg, Ohio where she helped Melvin start his dental practice. Their third child, Melinda Gayle Seeds  was born in 1967, and Gayle began balancing child rearing, homemaking, part-time dental assisting as needed, as well as bookkeeping for the practice for the next many years. The growing family then moved to Pickerington, Ohio in 1972 where they laid down permanent roots.  Gayle and Melvin were long time members of Reynoldsburg United Methodist Church.

When grandchildren appeared on the scene, Gayle provided her wonderful brand of maternal love with each of them, providing daycare for Lauren, Angela, Megan, and Dakota, acting as co-mother to Adam early on, and being a loving grandmother to all of them, including Samantha and the late arrivals, Becca and Treyzin.  As Megan recounts, “She helped raise so many of us. She taught us to finish our milk, eat our vegetables, and then get outside and play. She wanted us running barefoot through the yard, getting muddy, climbing trees, exploring and using our imaginations instead of ‘rotting our brains on the tube’. She gave us ice cream and popcorn on Sunday nights and bribed us with pancakes in the morning. She was the glue that held this family together. She loved us fiercely, took care of us, prayed for us, encouraged us, and made each of us feel special. So much of who we are is because of her. We will each carry her with us.”

Beginning in 1970, Gayle and Melvin began camping on Kelley’s Island.  What started out as three days under a tarp in the pouring rain with just the five of them along with Melvin’s brother, John, turned into 56 years and counting of annual week-long adventures on the lake with family and friends numbering more than thirty campers each year, as generation after generation caught the love of the outdoors and lake-living inspired by Melvin and Gayle.  

Gayle is survived by her husband, Dr. Melvin K. Seeds; her son, Jeff (Cheryl Wagner Seeds); her daughter Jan Seeds Copen (Jim Copen); her daughter Melinda Seeds Smith (Michael Smith); her grandchildren Lauren Seeds; Angela Seeds, Megan Seeds Donley (Brad Donley); Rebecca Seeds; Dakota Miller (Tiffany Miller); Samantha Miller; Samuel Adam Seeds (Samantha Seeds); Treyzin Smith; and Alyx Smith Terzano (Kate Terzano). She also leaves behind many beautiful great grandchildren: Lila Miller, Katerina Miller, Callie Miller, Emra Miller, Jackson Seeds, Franklin Seeds, Benjamin Donley, Asher Donley, Lucas Ogg, and Nico Terzano. Gayle is survived by her nephew, Andy Hall (Terri Hall) and their two children and three grandchildren, Matthew Hall, and Carolyn Hall Durham (Kevin Durham) and their three girls.

She leaves behind special friends Vicky and George Begue, and other friends and extended family members who will deeply miss her as well.

Funeral services will be held Friday, June 5, 2026 at Cotner Funeral Home, located at 7369 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, Ohio 43068.  Friends and family may visit from 12 p.m. until 1 p.m. The service will begin at 1 p.m.  Grave side service will occur immediately following at Glen Rest Memorial Estate.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Gayle’s memory to Wesley Hospice, 4588 Wesley Woods Blvd, Suite 2A, New Albany, OH 43054 or The Stefanie Spielman Foundation, The James, at http://giveto.osu.edu  

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