Carmen Rose Hepworth Alumni Award - Mary Seaman

Mary Seaman ('44)

Mary Seaman of Cedar City embodies the finest qualities of Carmen Hepworth and is an altogether fitting recipient of this annual award presented at Thunderbird Awards, which recognizes the commitment to bettering the lives of others and strengthening the University.

 

In August, Mary will celebrate her 90^th birthday and although she has slowed down a bit over the years as her eyesight has diminished, she maintains close contact with the school she loves. She says that while she misses cooking and the art of crocheting, in which she was an expert, she does not forswear SUU events.

Indeed, a largely disproportionate amount of her time is spent supporting the University in a variety of ways. All who know her are impressed with her level of dedication to her alma mater. She is a valued fixture at virtually every University function, from cultural activities to athletic events. She says she particularly enjoys Founders’ Day and the Christmas Gala each year, and can be found at most all alumni events. “I attend everything I’m invited to,” she says, matter-of-factly.

This year Mary commemorates her 70^th year as a graduate of the institution, as she is a proud member of the BAC Class of 1944. After graduating from Richfield High, she was active in all manner of campus activities as a student, particularly enjoying exciting basketball games in the noisy and crowded gymnasium that is now the Gilbert Great Hall of the Hunter Conference Center. She particularly enjoyed beating Dixie College and retaining the famed and treasured Ax, symbolic of athletic superiority. In addition to being a leader in her sorority—Phi Alpha Beta —at the BAC, she was valedictorian of her class and took a degree in business. Thereafter, she was ever a loyal alumna of the school.

She and her husband, Smoot, who passed away in 1988, were married in 1945. The couple owned and operated Smoot’s Apparel on Main Street for 15 years, but Mary poured much of her labors into raising their four daughters, each of which attended SUU. She also has nine grandchildren, six of whom are SUU graduates, and 15 great grandchildren. Notably, two of her daughters learned under the care of the teacher Carmen Hepworth, and Mary adds that Carmen was a dear friend as well as teacher of the children. 

Thor and Mary Seaman on "Red Carpet"