Morgan Sigler wanted to marry Nick Saban. When her bunny Izzy died, she made her friends miss the Braves in the playoffs to come to the funeral. She wanted to start a wedding planning shop with her mother in her hometown of Bryant, Ala.
She wanted to combine her engineering and art backgrounds to make the engineering department’s concrete canoe more aesthetically pleasing. Her favorite color was purple (she said Izzy’s was too), she loved Lil’ Wayne, and more than anything, she loved her friends and family.
Six months later, the death of Morgan Sigler in the April 27 tornado still moves the many people who loved her.
“Morgan was the kind of person who made you happy to be alive,” said Craig Wedderspoon, an art professor of Sigler’s.
Sigler, who was set to graduate in May 2011, received a posthumous degree in studio art in August. Vega Sigler, Morgan’s mother, said Morgan had an eye for art.
“She would see something and know it could be turned into a piece of art, where we wouldn’t see it,” Vega Sigler said.
Adam Hill, a senior majoring in sculpture and ceramics, said her enthusiasm and curiosity made him enjoy the time he had with her in class.
“She always had ideas running and was fun to work with,” Hill said. “Even as an intro student she was malleable. She would think before she shut us off, and she was eager to learn and listen.”
Vega Sigler said her daughter’s open-mindedness went beyond the art world.
“She believed in the good in everybody, until you proved her wrong,” Vega Sigler said. “She had a great love of life, and she was loyal to her friends and family. She was a strong Christian. She wasn’t perfect, but she was not ashamed of that.”
Cody Kirk had known Morgan since the fourth grade. They went to middle school and high school together and came to UA together.
“She was so full of life,” Kirk said. “Morgan was life to me. She meant everything to a lot of people. She was very kindhearted, but she stood up for herself. She didn’t take anything from anybody. She was definitely the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. She never met a stranger, and she made every person feel like they were loved. I loved Morgan more than anyone in the world.”
Julia Paulk, a friend of Morgan’s, agreed that Morgan positively impacted the people in her life.
“Morgan had a great impact on the lives of those around her. She had a smile on her face and said the sweetest things,” Paulk said. “She always helped those around her, and she was a truly beautiful soul. God received a very precious angel on that horrible and scary day.”
Wedderspoon said Morgan’s acceptance of herself was part of what made her so great.
“She was who she was. There was no pretense,” Wedderspoon said. “She wasn’t trying to be anything, and she was never caught up in any crap.”
Brooke Howell, a senior majoring in sculpture and graphic design, agreed that Morgan had an undeniable spark.
“I did not know a single person who had met Morgan and didn’t like her,” Howell said.
Wedderspoon said it is the little things that will always remind him of Morgan.
“A couple of days before the storm, she came up to me with the button we used to close one of the bay doors. She said, ‘I didn’t break this, but it came off,’” Wedderspoon said. “Every time I close that damn door, I think of her.”
