Joanne Gayring Seward
Nov. 6, 1931-Oct. 11, 2017
Palo Alto, California
Submitted by Timothy C Seward

Joanne Theresa Gayring Seward passed away last Wednesday morning, Oct. 11, in the company of her family and caretaker.

Beautiful, tender and kind; intelligent, witty and brave. Joanne sought and created beauty in her life, and she treasured the humanity of friends and strangers, and the loveliness of passing moments.

Joanne was born and raised in Syracuse, New York, the only child of Leona (Coughlin) and Herbert M. Gayring, surrounded by her extended Irish-American family. She graduated at 16 from Eastwood High School in Syracuse, and excelled as a pianist fond of Chopin.

Joanne was the first in her family to attend college, and graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University with a major in political science and international relations. She was a proud member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society. Joanne later earned a master’s degree from the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Administration, Syracuse University.

While working as a city planner for Syracuse, Joanne was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and moved to Washington, D.C. At the height of the Cold War, she served as an intelligence officer for the CIA in the Soviet Union and Eastern European Sector, where she focused on Soviet bloc economic capability and evidence of deployment of military and space missile systems.

In 1964, she married William R. Seward, formerly of Sacramento, California, with whom she had one son, Timothy Carr Seward. Joanne and her family lived in Burke, Virginia, in the D.C. metro area for many years, where she raised her son and developed a lifelong interest in interior and exterior home design, worked as a writer for Medical Economics magazine, and developed a passion for Irish literature.

In 1977, Joanne and her family moved to Palo Alto, California, where she lived for the next 40 years in the same home with many loving pets (most recently her poodle, Molly).

After the premature death of her husband in 1987, Joanne worked as a development writer for the Office of Medical Development, Stanford University Medical Center, where she made several close friends whom she cherished for 30 years.

Joanne is survived by her son and his wife, Stephanie, of Davis, California, and her two granddaughters Delaney Frances and Kylie Adeline. Joanne’s sweetness and love of life will be remembered by all who knew her.