Tolland Town Pillar Seale Tuttle Being Laid To Rest At Arlington

TOLLAND, CT — Townsfolk early next month will get a chance to say their final goodbyes to a decorated veteran and a pillar of the Tolland community whose final memorial will be on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery.

A Memorial Service for the late Seale Tuttle has ben scheduled for March 2, at the Arts Center of Tolland. Tuttle, a local historian and longtime member of the Tolland Fire Department, died Dec. 23 from cardiac amyloidosis at the age of 81. The receiving line will begin forming at 3 p.m. and the catered reception should begin at about 4:30 p.m. according to the family.

"It's pretty big," said MaryAnn Delaney Tuttle, his wife of more than 40 years. "He's had such a strong feeling about his Army and to be buried there is a real honor."

Tuttle's Army took him to what was then West Germany in the 1960s following artillery basic officer training and Airborne School, according to his obituary from the Storke Funeral Home In Northern Virginia, where he and MaryAnn made their retirement home. There, he served as a special weapons officer for the M110 howitzers of the 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Armored Division.

In late 1967, Tuttle was deployed to Vietnam, where he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade and attached as the artillery liaison officer to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, based at "LZ Baldy," near Chu Lai, where he saw action throughout the Tet Offensive in January 1968.

On his discharge in September 1969, Tuttle's military honors included the Aircraft Crewman Badge, Parachute Badge, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Air Medal (five awards), the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star Medal.

Tuttle returned to his native Upstate New York and worked as a patrol officer for the Cayuga Heights Police Department while attending Cornell Law School. After graduating, Tuttle became an assistant district attorney in Tompkins County, and in 1974 joined the New York State Organized Crime Task Force as an Assistant Attorney General, for which be became an arson specialist.

He then moved to practice law in the private sector .

Tuttle married MaryAnn on Jan. 3. She joked with Patch that the courtship began in a local tavern.

In 1987, the family, which now included sons James and David, relocated to Tolland, and Tuttle joined a specialized-risk company, Industrial Risk Insurers of Hartford.

He became not only a popular member of the community, but a respected one. He joined the Tolland Fire Department in 1988 and responded to hundreds of calls while serving as a firefighter, an EMT, a member of the TFD Fire Police, and as chairman of the board.

Tuttle was honored for 20 years of service in 2018. He also took on a leadership role with the annual "phone book" published by the TFD.

He was also an amateur radio operator, a pistol instructor, a car enthusiast, and a fan of steam trains.

He was a huge history buff, MaryAnn said, and he enjoyed building model warships.

Tuttle studied the Civil War intensely and MaryAnn said it makes his final resting place that much more special. The family considered the national cemetery in Saratoga, but then applied to Arlington because of its Civil War roots and its close proximity to where family members now live.

"I promised him I would visit him in Saratoga, but Arlington is where he really wanted to be," MaryAnn said. "And it is truly a place of honor."