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“Doc” Sigler, Retired CWA Leader in South, Dies
W.C. “Doc” Sigler, who retired in 1978 as administrative assistant to the vice president of then- District 10, died June 10 in Birmingham, Ala., after a long illness. He was 85.
Sigler was a telephone repairman at South Central Bell in Paducah, Ky., when he was hired by CWA’s founder, Joseph Beirne, in 1951 as Kentucky’s state director. In 1962, he became Alabama’s state director and later was promoted to assistant to the vice president.
“He was extremely active in state and national politics and very active in bargaining,” said Noah Savant, assistant to Vice President Jimmy Smith in District 3, which encompasses the former District 10. “He had a wealth of knowledge as far as contracts were concerned. And he was a person with a very sharp wit — very quick on his feet. Everybody liked him but his opponents.”
Sigler was born in Blackford, Ky., and served in the U.S. Army in the Panama Canal Zone during World War II. He worked as a J.C. Penney’s salesman for 40 cents an hour and a railroad laborer for 30 cents an hour before going to work for the phone company and later CWA.
His wife, Aline Sigler, said her husband continued to volunteer time to political campaigns after he retired and remained a union loyalist. “CWA was very important to him,” she said. “He was strictly a union man and he fought for unions.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Suzanne Hurst of Montevallo, Ala.; a brother, Robert, of Knoxville, Tenn.; a sister, Elizabeth Wallace of Paducah, Ky.; and one granddaughter.
Sigler was a telephone repairman at South Central Bell in Paducah, Ky., when he was hired by CWA’s founder, Joseph Beirne, in 1951 as Kentucky’s state director. In 1962, he became Alabama’s state director and later was promoted to assistant to the vice president.
“He was extremely active in state and national politics and very active in bargaining,” said Noah Savant, assistant to Vice President Jimmy Smith in District 3, which encompasses the former District 10. “He had a wealth of knowledge as far as contracts were concerned. And he was a person with a very sharp wit — very quick on his feet. Everybody liked him but his opponents.”
Sigler was born in Blackford, Ky., and served in the U.S. Army in the Panama Canal Zone during World War II. He worked as a J.C. Penney’s salesman for 40 cents an hour and a railroad laborer for 30 cents an hour before going to work for the phone company and later CWA.
His wife, Aline Sigler, said her husband continued to volunteer time to political campaigns after he retired and remained a union loyalist. “CWA was very important to him,” she said. “He was strictly a union man and he fought for unions.”
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Suzanne Hurst of Montevallo, Ala.; a brother, Robert, of Knoxville, Tenn.; a sister, Elizabeth Wallace of Paducah, Ky.; and one granddaughter.