Garland Sellers, 81, of Gaithersburg died Jan. 1 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville after a long series of health complications that followed a massive stroke he had in 1993.
Born and raised in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., he was the son of the late George Sellers and Elsie Niedfelt Sellers.
Mr. Sellers, who was known to his friends as "Sap," was a direct descendant of Mary Ball and George Washington, and a seventh generation Washingtonian.
He had served in the Navy during World War II as a secret communications intelligence specialist with Admiral Nimitz' fleet. He was an IBM card designer and equipment innovator, president and founder of Atlantic Data Card Co., owner of Sportsman's Lounge of Georgetown and past president of Washingtonian Towers Condominium Association. He also was a charter member of the Georgetown Boys Club and elected to its Hall of Fame.
Mr. Sellers had a long term relationship with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton and designed, built and developed a successful catering business in the Claridge and Russell rooms that was profitable enough to pay off the church mortgage and save the then-faltering Catholic school.
In his youth, Mr. Sellers was a citywide track star and billiards champion who was known around town as a dapper dresser who won numerous jitterbug contests with his Gordon Junior High School sweetheart, Miriam Ehrmantraut. Miriam was 12 years old and he was 15. They got married in 1938 and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They were partners for life and he was a supportive creative partner in his wife's Sellers School of Dance, making scenery, costumes and props for her dance performances.
Mr. Sellers was a handy man around the house who loved to decorate, renovate and fix up. He built the family home, which housed the dance studio on Viers Mill Road in Wheaton, and for decades people recognized it and still talk about the topiary of dancing girls and shrubs that spelled out "Sellers."
Mrs. Sellers continues to be involved with dance, and all three of their daughters own and operate their own dance studios: Dawn Crafton of Gaithersburg, Diane Herbert of Dunkirk and Lothian and Denise Shores of Gaithersburg and Damascus.
In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by grandsons Chris Crafton, who was killed in a banner plane accident in 1984, and newborn twins, Brendon and Brandon Shores, who died shortly after their births.
Funeral services were held Jan. 5 at St. Catherine Laboure Church. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring. DeVol Funeral Home in Gaithersburg handled the arrangements.
Born and raised in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., he was the son of the late George Sellers and Elsie Niedfelt Sellers.
Mr. Sellers, who was known to his friends as "Sap," was a direct descendant of Mary Ball and George Washington, and a seventh generation Washingtonian.
He had served in the Navy during World War II as a secret communications intelligence specialist with Admiral Nimitz' fleet. He was an IBM card designer and equipment innovator, president and founder of Atlantic Data Card Co., owner of Sportsman's Lounge of Georgetown and past president of Washingtonian Towers Condominium Association. He also was a charter member of the Georgetown Boys Club and elected to its Hall of Fame.
Mr. Sellers had a long term relationship with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton and designed, built and developed a successful catering business in the Claridge and Russell rooms that was profitable enough to pay off the church mortgage and save the then-faltering Catholic school.
In his youth, Mr. Sellers was a citywide track star and billiards champion who was known around town as a dapper dresser who won numerous jitterbug contests with his Gordon Junior High School sweetheart, Miriam Ehrmantraut. Miriam was 12 years old and he was 15. They got married in 1938 and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They were partners for life and he was a supportive creative partner in his wife's Sellers School of Dance, making scenery, costumes and props for her dance performances.
Mr. Sellers was a handy man around the house who loved to decorate, renovate and fix up. He built the family home, which housed the dance studio on Viers Mill Road in Wheaton, and for decades people recognized it and still talk about the topiary of dancing girls and shrubs that spelled out "Sellers."
Mrs. Sellers continues to be involved with dance, and all three of their daughters own and operate their own dance studios: Dawn Crafton of Gaithersburg, Diane Herbert of Dunkirk and Lothian and Denise Shores of Gaithersburg and Damascus.
In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by grandsons Chris Crafton, who was killed in a banner plane accident in 1984, and newborn twins, Brendon and Brandon Shores, who died shortly after their births.
Funeral services were held Jan. 5 at St. Catherine Laboure Church. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring. DeVol Funeral Home in Gaithersburg handled the arrangements.
Garland Sellers, 81, of Gaithersburg died Jan. 1 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville after a long series of health complications that followed a massive stroke he had in 1993.
Born and raised in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., he was the son of the late George Sellers and Elsie Niedfelt Sellers.
Mr. Sellers, who was known to his friends as "Sap," was a direct descendant of Mary Ball and George Washington, and a seventh generation Washingtonian.
He had served in the Navy during World War II as a secret communications intelligence specialist with Admiral Nimitz' fleet. He was an IBM card designer and equipment innovator, president and founder of Atlantic Data Card Co., owner of Sportsman's Lounge of Georgetown and past president of Washingtonian Towers Condominium Association. He also was a charter member of the Georgetown Boys Club and elected to its Hall of Fame.
Mr. Sellers had a long term relationship with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton and designed, built and developed a successful catering business in the Claridge and Russell rooms that was profitable enough to pay off the church mortgage and save the then-faltering Catholic school.
In his youth, Mr. Sellers was a citywide track star and billiards champion who was known around town as a dapper dresser who won numerous jitterbug contests with his Gordon Junior High School sweetheart, Miriam Ehrmantraut. Miriam was 12 years old and he was 15. They got married in 1938 and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They were partners for life and he was a supportive creative partner in his wife's Sellers School of Dance, making scenery, costumes and props for her dance performances.
Mr. Sellers was a handy man around the house who loved to decorate, renovate and fix up. He built the family home, which housed the dance studio on Viers Mill Road in Wheaton, and for decades people recognized it and still talk about the topiary of dancing girls and shrubs that spelled out "Sellers."
Mrs. Sellers continues to be involved with dance, and all three of their daughters own and operate their own dance studios: Dawn Crafton of Gaithersburg, Diane Herbert of Dunkirk and Lothian and Denise Shores of Gaithersburg and Damascus.
In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by grandsons Chris Crafton, who was killed in a banner plane accident in 1984, and newborn twins, Brendon and Brandon Shores, who died shortly after their births.
Funeral services were held Jan. 5 at St. Catherine Laboure Church. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring. DeVol Funeral Home in Gaithersburg handled the arrangements.
Born and raised in Georgetown in Washington, D.C., he was the son of the late George Sellers and Elsie Niedfelt Sellers.
Mr. Sellers, who was known to his friends as "Sap," was a direct descendant of Mary Ball and George Washington, and a seventh generation Washingtonian.
He had served in the Navy during World War II as a secret communications intelligence specialist with Admiral Nimitz' fleet. He was an IBM card designer and equipment innovator, president and founder of Atlantic Data Card Co., owner of Sportsman's Lounge of Georgetown and past president of Washingtonian Towers Condominium Association. He also was a charter member of the Georgetown Boys Club and elected to its Hall of Fame.
Mr. Sellers had a long term relationship with St. Catherine Laboure Church in Wheaton and designed, built and developed a successful catering business in the Claridge and Russell rooms that was profitable enough to pay off the church mortgage and save the then-faltering Catholic school.
In his youth, Mr. Sellers was a citywide track star and billiards champion who was known around town as a dapper dresser who won numerous jitterbug contests with his Gordon Junior High School sweetheart, Miriam Ehrmantraut. Miriam was 12 years old and he was 15. They got married in 1938 and recently celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. They were partners for life and he was a supportive creative partner in his wife's Sellers School of Dance, making scenery, costumes and props for her dance performances.
Mr. Sellers was a handy man around the house who loved to decorate, renovate and fix up. He built the family home, which housed the dance studio on Viers Mill Road in Wheaton, and for decades people recognized it and still talk about the topiary of dancing girls and shrubs that spelled out "Sellers."
Mrs. Sellers continues to be involved with dance, and all three of their daughters own and operate their own dance studios: Dawn Crafton of Gaithersburg, Diane Herbert of Dunkirk and Lothian and Denise Shores of Gaithersburg and Damascus.
In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by eight grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by grandsons Chris Crafton, who was killed in a banner plane accident in 1984, and newborn twins, Brendon and Brandon Shores, who died shortly after their births.
Funeral services were held Jan. 5 at St. Catherine Laboure Church. Burial was in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring. DeVol Funeral Home in Gaithersburg handled the arrangements.
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