Longtime Harold Jones Center director dies

• Reprints

Sigler

Updated: January 23, 2012 12:23AM

For 30 years, the Rev. Eugene Sigler dedicated his life to serving Chicago Heights’ immigrant and minority populations by overseeing the Harold Colbert Jones Memorial Community Center.

Rev. Sigler, 90, of Chicago Heights, died Jan. 21 at St. James Hospital in the city.

He was an ordained minister in the American Baptist Church and served as the community center’s executive director from 1956 to 1986. It offers a variety of community programs, including an after-school program for children, a social program for senior citizens and a trailer full of craft supplies the he would drive out into the community.

There is an atrium at the center, 220 E. 15th St., dedicated in honor of Rev. Sigler’s first wife, Ruth, who died in 1983.

“He was the ultimate people person,” Cheryl Roop, the center’s current director, said. “He loved knowing about everybody and people who were down and out. He wanted everyone to feel welcome and loved.”

Roop said the center played a big role in Sigler’s life. He even lived and raised his family in the building, which used to have apartments.

“It was a great upbringing, let me tell you,” one of his daughters, Jeanne Sigler, said. “People came to work there from all over the world and the country, so I got a very broad education. A very people-oriented upbringing.”

After leaving as the center’s director, Rev. Sigler stayed heavily involved with the community. He was a member of the Chicago Heights Ministers Association and the Lions Club, a past chaplain of the Glenwood School for Boys and an organizing member of the Illinois Migrants Council.

Rev. Sigler also was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Chicago Heights.

“He felt that his ministry was to serve, and he did that in every way he could think of, from helping people find jobs to getting food,” Jeanne Sigler said. “He did a lot of very practical things and also helped forge a better society.”

Besides his daughter, Rev. Sigler is survived by his wife Marilyn; son Daniel Sigler; daughters Lois Bartelt, Naomi Hunter and Pamela Sigler; stepchildren Kathryn Vaughn and Kenneth Vaughn; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

His funeral was Monday at the First Presbyterian Church. Interment followed at Homewood Memorial Gardens.