Zigler History, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana Submitted by Kathy Tell Source; NOLA MAE ROSS American Press Writer Publication Date: 06/23/1991 Page and Section: 22 IM Submitted April 2002 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************Community spirit was Zigler's gift to Jennings In 1902, George Boyum Zigler ran a haberdashery in North Dakota. When ill health forced him to be hospitalized in Chicago, his wife brought their two children, Fred B. Zigler and Ione Janeke Conner, to Jennings to stay with relatives the Boyums, Johnsons and Ritchies. She then headed back north to tend to her sick husband. Meanwhile, in the Chicago hospital, George B. Zigler was told that he needed a very serious kidney operation. ''If you perform this operation how long will I live?'' Zigler asked. ''One year,'' the doctor said. ''And if you don't perform the operation?'' ''Maybe six months.'' Zigler replied: ''Then you fellows will be relieved of the responsibility of operating, for I am going to Louisiana to spend the next six months.'' George B. Zigler did go to Jennings, and lived there for 34 more years. During those years he made and lost several fortunes and built and invested in many businesses a shipyard, a towing and dredging service, a car dealership, a tractor and tire company that helped Jennings flourish for years to come. His first job in Jennings was tending horses at the newly discovered oil field. He watched everything that went on there and learned a lot. Years later, modern oil drilling equipment came in, making it easier to drill deep oil wells. Zigler had acquired quite a few oil leases on deserted wells, and he was able to use bring in good wells. In the meantime, rice had claimed much of his time and attention. Like everything he did, he did it in a big way; so, when salt water flooded his rice fields he was out of business. And that led to a dredging business. Zigler felt sympathy for those less fortunate and helped many of his fellow men financially. He often co-signed notes for friends, and when his banker cautioned him about that practice, Zigler said, ''I'm going to continue signing their notes. If I didn't, perhaps I would do harm to a good and honest man who was down and out on his luck. And when my name's on a note, you know you'll get your money.'' Another story of Zigler's helping hand occurred during the Depression of 1929-33. Hearing about a man in Jennings who was destitute, with a family to feed, but too proud to accept charity, Zigler investigated and found out the man owned a shotgun. He went to the man and said, ''I hear you have a fine gun. And I'm in need of one.'' Offering the man three times the worth of the gun, he insisted on paying that much, even though the owner protested.Just before leaving Zigler said, ''I can't take the gun with me right now. Will you keep it for me?'' He never went back to pick it up. In 1929 Henry Ford sold the public on the idea of the ''flivver'' airplane. Since the Ziglers were Ford car dealers they planned to sell the plane, too, so they purchased a franchise. Then the crash of a test plane in Florida dashed Ford's hopes for a mass-produced light plane. So the Ziglers remained content just selling Ford cars. ''No man was ever more respected in his community than George B. Zigler,'' wrote Franklin Hildebrand in his book, ''As I Remember.'' ''Everyone called him 'Mister Zigler'.'' When his son, Fred B. Zigler who was born in North Dakota in 1899, reached the age of 18 George Zigler had him emancipated and made him vice president of the G.B. Zigler Co., which, at the time, was a brokerage company selling oil for fuel. Zigler had groomed his son well and at the elder Zigler's death Fred was already running many of the businesses. Fred added a new dimension to the many businesses when the Zigler Flying Service, an agricultural flight venture, was born in 1946. Zigler bought World War II trainer planes, which his shop re-built, and hired young pilots returning from the war to fly them. Zigler Flying Service became one of the first agricultural services of its kind in the area and grew with the farming industry around Jennings. Jeff E. Hooper of Lake Arthur remembers those days well. He was one of the young pilots hired in the new aviation business. ''Mr. Zigler was a good man to work for and a good friend,'' Hooper recalls. ''Since the ag-flying business was new it took some persuasion to get the area farmers to take a chance with us. But the business grew, and Zigler opened operations in Lafayette and Abbeville. ''We flew many experiments for the LSU Experimental Station and then in later years, after I bought part of the business, I went to Texas and flew experimental flights for A & M College. ''Mr. Zigler had a twin Beech and a Lockheed 10, which were his personal planes, and I took him on many trips to Houston and New Orleans and also on hunting trips.'' Fred Zigler fell in love with Ruth Burgin, who lived near Evangeline. After their marriage, they moved to Clara Street in Jennings. They never had children, so they left their legacy to foundations, which have provided college tuition for many college students, helped in building the American Legion Hospital, Jennings Public Library, Boys Village and numerous other community projects. In 1963, after Fred's death, his wife donated the Clara Street property the Zigler family home since 1908for the Zigler Museum, which opened in 1970. She also continued existing financial programs and added many more before her death in 1974. Mrs. Zigler's nephew, Mark Fehl, lives in Lake Charles. His father was killed in an oilfield accident when Mark was six months old and he spent so much time with the Ziglers that Fred Zigler became like a father to him. ''I can remember my aunt and uncle taking me to the Zigler Hotel for dinner every Sunday,'' said Fehl, who is director of the Zigler Foundation. ''That was in the days of hats and white gloves and I had to display explicit manners.'' ''Nice,'' ''considerate'' and ''kind'' are all words used abundantly in describing the Ziglers by all who had a connection with them. Their thoughtfulness, philanthropic gifts and inspired community spirit have played a vital part in Jennings history during the first seven decades of this century.