William H. Zeigel died May 8, 2006, at the age of 101 years old. Yet, the impression he left from his 34 years at Eastern, his 72 years with Rotary International and his friendly personality will not be easily forgotten.

His wife, Frances E. Zeigel, died April 17, 2006. She was 102 years old. Zeigel died just three weeks later. June 1 would have been their 76th wedding anniversary.

“For their wedding anniversary last year we were not able to find a 75th anniversary card from Hallmark, so I purchased a 50 year card and a 25 year card and taped them together. Dad got a real kick out of that,” said son, Robert F. Zeigel.

Zeigel came to Eastern in 1937, teaching education classes, and was the first to teach off-campus classes offered by the campus.

His work with education would get him extra tire and gasoline rations during the war, according to son Robert. Because of his work with Eastern’s Schoolmaster’s Club, it enabled a guidance conference at Eastern to be arranged for high school juniors and seniors.

In his first project with the conference, around 1,300 students came to Eastern to get a chance to meet with the heads of the departments, hear the president, tour the campus, or for the men, listen to military options offered for the Selective Service.

In 1960 he would be an associate Dean of Teacher Education and Placement. In 1960 he also would join the Charleston Rotary Club, and he would get to know a lifelong friend, Dan Thornburgh, who was a journalism instructor at the time.

“I met him in 1959,” Thornburgh said. “I didn’t really get to know him though until 1960, when I asked him to join the Charleston Rotary Club. With his involvement there as the first editor of the newsletter for Rotary, and I liked doing the newsletter since I’ve been involved in journalism, we became friends.”

Zeigel served in Rotary International since 1932, and even after retiring from the Charleston Rotary Club in ’71, he still served as District Governor of the 649 District, doing such things as working with the 48 clubs that reported to him, and supporting the establishment of Charleston’s Rotary Pool. His work landed him the Paul Harris Service Award, the highest honor given by Rotary International.

“We honored him at the Charleston Rotary Club last year. Of anyone I know of, I don’t know anyone who gave so much to Rotary as he did,” Thornburgh said.

But perhaps it was the smallest things he did that made the biggest impact, the way he was at home.

After giving up trying to learn piano, Robert Ziegel picked up the violin, while his musically inclined mother would sit at the piano and count what the beat was. Despite the change in instruments, Robert said he still did not practice like he should, until his father came home that was.

“So one day my father comes home and says, ‘Well Bobby, got your homework done? Well, if you go in and play the violin with Mother accompanying on the piano, I will do the dishes,'” said Robert.

“Well, he was clever in saying that as I would have done anything to get out of doing dishes. So I practiced for 2 and 3 hours at a time and learned to play the violin without sounding like it was a cat shrieking.”

But it was not only to Ziegel’s son that he served as a father figure, but also to many. Robert’s wife, Deanna ‘Dee,’ remembered him as a “remarkable man,” and because her mother passed when she was very young, “he was the only father [I] really ever knew.”

Even former Illinois Governor and Eastern alumnus Jim Edgar respected Ziegel, despite his initial confrontation with him.

“He was trying to keep me out of Eastern,” said Edgar. “Then a few people talked to him, and let me in. He was the real nuts and bolts running the university. Bill was the guy that made everything happen. The campus went from a few thousand in his time to over ten thousand. He’s a gentleman, and he deserves a lot of credit with the growth of the stature of Eastern.”

A couple years before his death, Thornburgh went up to see Ziegel at Windsor, finding even in his 90s he had a full sense of humor.

“He kept living for so long.about two years ago, I went up to see him, to update things, and I say to him, ‘Bill, we gotta tell people where they can send donations [for a memorial service] if they want to for you and Fran’ and he says to me, he says, ‘Why don’t you tell ’em for them to send money to you and me for Fran, that way, we’ll have something.'”

William had two memorial services for his wife Fran, one at the home at Windsor at Savory, NY, and the other at Charleston. Ziegel had one service at Windsor. Thornburgh, was there for the eulogies.

William H. Zeigel died May 8, 2006, at the age of 101 years old. He leaves behind a 34 year legacy at Eastern.

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