Robert Paul Seigler
My Father
This is my tribute to my father, Robert Paul Seigler. He was a fine man and a great father.
This is a story that I wrote about him.
A Talk With My Dad
Robert "Paul" Seigler
Feb. 27, 1932 to Feb. 10, 1985
I got married the first time when I was 18, and I had my son, James, when I was 19. He was such a sweet baby and I was thrilled to be a mother. When he was just 7 months old, I became pregnant again. Things were really rough at the time.
I was very upset when I found out that I was pregnant again because James was just a baby and I didn’t see how I could handle having another baby so soon. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to give my son the love and attention that he needed and also give a new baby the proper love and attention too. I was in tears much of the time.
My dad, Paul Seigler, and I didn’t have a real good relationship when I was growing up but after I got married, we got along better. One day I was at my parents’ house and I was talking to them about my unhappiness at being pregnant again and about my fears at not being able to give enough love and attention to two babies. My dad told me, “Don’t worry, when you see that baby, you will love it just as much as you do James, and things will be fine.” That meant so much to me for him to tell me that, and I remembered what he said for the rest of my pregnancy and after my daughter, Jennifer, was born.
He was so right. When Jennifer was born, I was thrilled, and she was such a sweet and happy baby. She brought so much joy to our lives. She was so funny when she was a baby and she made us all laugh at the cute things that she said and did.
I later got divorced from my first husband and then I got married to Mike. We had Beth and Angie, and each time that I was pregnant, I remembered what my dad had told me. His words were such a comfort to me, more and more as time went on.
When Jennifer grew up, she got married and had a baby girl of her own, Brooke. Brooke was my first grandchild and was so much like Jennifer and was such a joy. Jennifer became pregnant with her second child when Brooke was about 9 months old. She came over to my house and told me that she was pregnant again. She was so upset and was crying. She was worried about Brooke because she didn’t think that she would be able to take care of 2 babies.
I remembered what my father had told me so many years before, and I told her that she would love the new baby just as much as she did Brooke, and that things would be fine. When her second daughter, Morgan, was born, she loved her very much right from the start, too, just like she had loved Brooke, and just like I had loved James, Jennifer, Beth, and Angie. When she had her son, Logan, a few years later, she loved him just as much too. Beth and Angie both have children too. I hope all my children will remember the words that I have handed down to them from my father, and that they will pass them on down to their children, too.’
My father died on Feb. 10, 1985, at the age of almost 53, from a heart attack and cancer. I miss him so much. I often think about what he told me about loving our children, and I am so thankful to him for the great advice that he gave me all those years ago.
As I sat here writing this, it dawned on me that life is like a circle. One person helps someone, and that person goes on to help someone else, and so on and on it goes, just like a circle. Love creates more love, and on and on.
Thank you, Daddy, for loving me so much. How I wish that you could have been here to see how well my children have grown up, and that you could have seen their children, your great-grandchildren. How proud you would have been of them! How appropriate that I wrote this today, on what would have been your 72nd birthday! Happy Birthday, Daddy! I hope that I have made you proud of me! I miss you and love you so much!
By Charlotte Anne Seigler Miller
2-27-2004
His obituary
Back of Obituary Card
