A love of history inspired Rotarian Sigur Whitaker's second career as an author and one of her hobbies -- genealogy.
Since her "liberation" six years ago from a 35-year banking career, Sigur has written and published four non-fiction books with a fifth one debuting in October. She has also traced her family history on both sides back to 800 A.D. and discovered among her family seven signers of the Magna Carta and ties to William the Conquerer.
Curiosity about her great-great uncle Jim Allison led to Sigur's first book in 2011, a biography focused on the entrepreneurial co-founder of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Her second and third books also related to the speedway's history while her fourth one chronicled the history of Christ & St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Her upcoming fifth book is about the Indianapolis automobile industry, which once rivaled that of Detroit. She will explain how the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has influenced the American automobile when she is Rotary Club of Norfolk's August 1 speaker,
Sigur grew up in Indianapolis where her dad was a traveling salesman and her mom worked in accounting at a manufacturer of products such as Easter egg dye and shoe polish -- leaving Sigur and her older brother Joel to always have shiny shoes and colored eggs as children. At age 10 while accompanying her family on her brother's pre-college visits she vowed to attend the University of North Carolina where her father, grandfather and great-grandfather graduated and a great-aunt was a trustee. Graduating from UNC with a sociology degree, she worked with abused children for four years before returning to UNC for a masters degree in business.
After graduation she joined First Union Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina and continued her career with banks in Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Tallahassee before moving to Norfolk 24 years ago to work as a credit officer with what is now SunTrust Bank. Not knowing anyone in Norfolk, Sigur never intended to make the city her permanent home. Then she got involved in her community. She joined Christ & St. Luke's where she met Rotarian George Curtis, who invited her to a Rotary Club of Norfolk meeting. In 1999 she joined the club where she enjoys "community service, fellowship and the speakers. I learn something new almost every time," says Sigur, In 2014-15 she served as club president and led the club into a Rotary International innovative and flexible club pilot project. Sigur currently oversees the club's website, edits the Rotations e-newsletter and coordinates the September 22 and 23 Rotary District Conference.
In her free time, Sigur takes improv comedy classes and performs in Push Comedy Theater shows, plays bridge, quilts, takes classes at The Muse Writers Center, works in her yard in Larchmont, does water aerobics and enjoys being with her dog Abby. A soprano, she sings in the Christ & St. Luke's choir and has traveled to England with the choir to sing at cathedrals there. Sigur's love of travel, has led her to all 50 states plus much of Europe, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
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