EVELYN BURKOM LIFCHEZ SIEGEL

Evelyn Lifchez Siegel, 97, a talented artist and teacher who inspired thousands of local children; an advocate for the elderly who spearheaded creation of a network of senior citizens centers; and a soft-spoken role model who broke the glass ceiling, died Dec. 24 at her home in West Fort Worth. Throughout the holiday season, she was surrounded by her four sons and their wives, 12 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren who are following in her footsteps along various paths. 

A celebration of Evelyn’s long, fruitful life will be held on Monday, Jan. 20, at 11 a.m. at Temple Beth-El, 4900 Briarhaven Rd., where she became a pillar of the congregation after moving to Texas in 1950. Rabbi BrIan Zimmerman and Rabbi Emeritus Ralph D. Mecklenburger will officiate. 

Born in Columbia, S.C., May 15, 1927, Evelyn was a creative child who spontaneously sat down in the dirt, rolled up her sleeves, and shaped objects with mud and clay. As a teenager, she turned her family’s back porch into a studio where neighborhood youngsters came for art lessons. 

Her eldest son Jeff said, “No matter where I travel, whether on a ski slope in Aspen or a fishing spot on a wild river, when strangers hear my last name they tell me, ‘I have art on my walls because of her.’ ” 

For decades Evelyn instilled students at Fort Worth Country Day, Fort Worth Hebrew Day School, Beth-El’s Religious School, and the Imagination Celebration with an appreciation for art—from ancient Native American pottery to multi-media installations. With crayons, scraps of fabric, scissors, and paper, she showed children how fun and easy it can be to add creativity to every object and occasion. 

Evelyn became den mother to dozens of professional artists, whom she mentored at the Evelyn Siegel Gallery, a landmark at 3612 W. 7th St, from 1982 to 2003. Her innovative gallery featured the twins Scott and Stuart Gentling years before their dry brush watercolors of Texas birds were published in a portfolio. To keep alive “dying arts,” she invited handweavers to bring their loom into the gallery and demonstrate as guest artists. An Indigenous ceramicist built a fire in the gallery parking lot to fire pots with New Mexican fuel—dried dung which burns evenly. 

“Becoming a Siegel artist was like being adopted into a new family,” said Deran Wright, creator of the “Sleeping Panther of Fort Worth,” a bronze sculpture catnapping at the corner of Main and Weatherford. “She promoted you and took care of you. Even if you didn’t become part of the gallery, any artist could walk in off the street and get excellent advice.” 

Evelyn met the love of her life, Martin Siegel, on October 4, 1948. A veteran of the Merchant Marine, Martin had spotted Evelyn from afar and asked, “Who is that girl in the pink suit?” He arranged to drop by her house when his cousin, one of Evelyn’s AEPhi sorority sisters at the University of South Carolina, was visiting. Evelyn and Martin married Jan. 7, 1950, in an Orthodox Jewish wedding ceremony. Several months after the couple’s honeymoon, they moved to remote Mineral Wells, Texas, where his family was setting up a plant to manufacture ammunition cases for the military. Their first two sons, Jeff and Terry, were born in Mineral Wells.

The family gravitated to Fort Worth, the nearest Jewish community. Evelyn became friends with a circle of post-WWII brides—among them Roz Rosenthal, Selma Krauss and Rachel Cristol. Each had grown up out-of-state and was experiencing culture shock in Texas. Each had a social conscience and membership in the National Council of Jewish Women. Assigned to find a worthy project for $35,000 from the Council’s 1965 treasury, Evelyn investigated how to help the elderly. The Community Council, precursor of the United Way, suggested a “loan closet” stocked with wheel chairs and crutches.

Evelyn had a larger vision.

After Sunday school every weekend, she and her sons (by then there were four) cleaned up a vacant funeral parlor on Hemphill St. The mortuary was reborn in 1967 as the city’s first senior citizens drop-in center. Evelyn’s goal was to empower older adults to live with purpose and companionship, to remain healthy, active, and engaged in their communities, to have access to health care, transportation, and to remain active in their communities. 

Her ideas were shaped while attending a White House Conference on Aging. In short order, Evelyn became president of Senior Citizens Services of Tarrant County. It grew into a multimillion dollar agency with nearly 40 locations, a central kitchen, a transportation network, and a cadre of several thousand volunteers over age 70. “We began one of the finest agencies in this city,” Evelyn often said. “Our money was well spent.” 

Last year, the agency’s name changed to Sixty & Better, which operates “Evelyn’s Creativity Lab.” The lab offers free weekly workshops that “keep hands busy and minds engaged.”

The Siegels had a second home in Aspen, Colorado, a short distance from the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass. Evelyn convinced the Art Center to add a children’s program, where she taught local students and youngsters on vacation. “She had so many passions,” said her son.

Widely applauded for her quiet determination and her accomplishments, Evelyn Siegel received dozens of honors. In 2011, she was named Outstanding Citizen for Seniors; in 2012, Outstanding Advocate for Older Americans; in 2013, the Senior Spirit Award. In retirement, she staged a silent auction at Beth-El that featured more than 100 works of painting and pottery from her personal collection. She earmarked the proceeds for the county’s senior citizen network.

Evelyn, a graduate of the USC where she majored in art and design, later studied at Manhattan’s Parsons School of Design. When the Fort Worth Art Center, which evolved into the Museum of Modern Art, opened its first sculpture class, she studied with the late Evaline Sellors. Evelyn purchased a small electric kiln in 1953. She ultimately graduated to a 30-cubic-foot gas kiln with four burners. She placed it in in her back garden. “I fire it up once a year for the students,” she would explain. “We take our bisque and glazes to my house and load up the kiln. . . . We call it our pot party.”

Evelyn was predeceased by her husband of 64 years, Martin Siegel, who died April 3, 2014. She is survived by four sons and their spouses: Jeff and Pam Siegel, Terry and Cynthia Siegel, Jon and Suzie Siegel, Aaron and Nancy Siegel; by twelve grandchildren: Jason (and Danielle) Siegel, Tatara Siegel (and Meagan Henderson); Sean (and Ashley) Siegel; Emily Siegel; Courtney (and Will) Landes; Samantha Siegel; Caren Siegel; Jennifer (and Douglas) Legrande; Jessica (and Chris) Mirkin; Katharine (and Kris) Kovach; Allyson (and Gordon) Allison; and Isaac Siegel. She is also survived by nine great-grandchildren: Jack, Julian, and Jordan Siegel; Martin and Isabel Siegel; Hampton Legrande; Marion and Evelyn Siegel; and Esme Henderson.