Adele Siegel, a towering peace activist who was one of the most politically active and enduring figures in the history of Culver City, died last Wednesday. She was 92 years old.
The announcement came in an email from Mrs. Siegel’s daughter, Roberta Osgood.
A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, Aug. 16, at a time and location to be announced.
Hardly anything could slow Mrs. Siegel, much less stop her. In her latter years, emphysema forced her to use a portable oxygen tank, but it did not sideline her. When ready to leave the house, she went, and the tank had to go, too.
Mrs. Siegel’s death ends the longest grassroots political career Culver City ever has seen, spanning more than 60 years, to the middle 1940s.
A fierce fighter for progressive causes, Mrs. Siegel and her late husband Henry,94 years old, who died two years ago this summer, were physically and political visible to friends, neighbors and the wider community down to their final days.
“Culver City has lost a great community activist,” Mayor Scott Malsin said:
Former Mayor Alan Corlin issued the following statement this morning:
“Adele Siegel has been an icon in the city for many years. While her ideas were not embraced by everyone, everyone did respect her.
“Her viewpoint and her perspicacity will be missed.”
Carol Gross, a neighbor as well as former Mayor and City Council person, said she never will forget seeing Mrs. Siegel take her morning constitutional, “every day, regardless of the weather. She had to walk slowly. It took her a very long time to walk just a block. But she kept pushing. She made it down the block and back every time.”
Former Councilman/Mayor Steve Rose knew her all of his life because the Siegel family came to town about the time Mr. Rose was born. “Adele was a wonderful mother, grandmother, teacher, activist in peace causes. She truly believed in the causes she espoused.”
Mrs. Siegel was deemed an extraordinary role model for amateur activists everywhere looking for a guide on how to proceed. She would state her positions with unerring clarity, and not back down.
One of her most recent successes was a campaign to have the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program eliminated at culver City High School.
In the last decade, her activism manifested itself in the form of emails to community newspapers and widely spaced speak-out appearances in Council Chambers at City Hall and at School Board meetings.
Until shortly before Mr. Siegel’s death, the remarkable elderly couple could be seen walking for exercise on the sidewalks in and around the Braddock Drive home where they had lived, and raised their family, from the day they moved to Culver City 62 years ago.
They were a team, they both said, but Mrs. Siegel often was cast in the lead role.
Mrs. Osgood said of her mother: “In recent years, anti-war, quality education and racial justice were watchwords and guiding principles for her. She took on the project of demilitarizing the schools as a personal campaign.
“Mrs. Siegel was active in the community, especially related to raising her four children.
“As her children began going off to college, she decided to do parallel studying, and she became a teacher. She worked for LAUSD for 20 years at 54th Street Elementary School.
“She was active and energetic with many interests, including political action, sewing, gardening and keeping freshly baked desserts available for guests. She had a reputation for being persistent, creative and indomitable.”
Born May 15, 1916, in Cleveland, Mrs. Siegel is survived by her children: Sandy Siegel, Roberta Osgood, Irene Siegel and Lenny Siegel; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
The family may be contacted through Mrs. Osgood at robertaosgood@yahoo.com
