Baha’i Profile: Kathy Siegling, a Lifetime of Serving the Faith

Reprinted with permission from the June, 2012 Cedar Rapids Baha’i Newsletter

While attending a fireside on calamities, Kathy Siegling was moved by the heart and the soul of the Faith. “The fireside was not my thing, but it was so full of spirit that I was taken over while walking around,” said Kathy. Kathy proceeded to declare that night and has since dedicated much of her life to serving the Faith.

Kathy belonged to both the Iowa and North Dakota Baha’is School Committee, and her favorite aspect of the position was being the librarian. “I loved working with the students and ordering books,” said Kathy. Teaching children’s classes and being a part of the Assembly in Iowa, Colorado, and North Dakota are some of her other contributions to the Faith.

Utilizing her library science skills, Kathy went on to volunteer and eventually become employed by the Marion Library. “Jan King suggested that we volunteer and I began by putting books away, then I was hired as a page, and after that, I worked fulltime in the children’s section,” said Kathy. Kathy has also worked at Lawson’s, but emphasized that her day job was usually babysitting. “I babysat a lot of Baha’i children while their parents were at work,” said Kathy.

In her free time, Kathy enjoys making crafts, spending time with family, and drawing. Connecting her natural artistic abilities to the Faith, Kathy enjoys drawing greeting cards for Baha’i holidays. She will be selling her work for the first time at the Greenlake Baha’i Conference later this summer. Most of the cards feature flowers, but “I’m getting more into landscaping,” said Kathy.

As a former librarian, Kathy is also fond of reading mysteries and children’s books. Specifically, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by A. Wolf, by Jon Scieszka, and John Grisham novels are among her favorites.

Regarding family life, Kathy married Jim Siegling in 1967 and they’re happily approaching their 45th anniversary. Kim, Robin, and Angie are their three children and they also have two grandchildren.