BCSD employee, grandfather and devoted husband dies 40 days after battling COVID-19
When Jorge Arturo Sigala checked into the hospital on July 29 with a fever, his family had no idea that he wouldn’t rebound from the symptoms of COVID-19 that had been bothering him for weeks.
They say the Bakersfield resident was a healthy 62-yearold man who had been working the night shift on the custodial team for the Bakersfield City School District.
As he drove himself to the hospital, his daughter Nadia Sigala warned him not to park in the street.
“My dad was like, ‘No, I’ll be right out,’” she said.
But he was immediately put on oxygen, and two days later he was transferred to
Loma Linda University Medical Center. Sigala was one of thousands of Kern County residents infected with coronavirus during a spike in cases when local hospitals were stretched to capacity.
Forty days after he checked himself into the hospital, Sigala died at the age of 63 from the organ failure wrought by the effects of COVID-19, his family said. They warn that COVID-19 is a deadly virus that can be wage a prolonged, emotionally wrenching battle on the human body.
“It can be long-term,” said his daughter Pauleth Gonzalez. “It needs to be taken seriously, and a lot of people don’t.”
‘HE REALLY EARNED HIS AMERICAN DREAM’
Jorge Arturo Sigala, a native
of Tampico, Tamaulipas, earned a degree in biology, then attended medical school at the University of Veracruz. He ran out of tuition money before he could finish, so he returned to Tamaulipas. He became a high school biology teacher and met his wife of 37 years, Sofia Ruiz de Sigala.
“He had a full life in Mexico,” Pauleth said.
Then someone stole his car. Sigala, at the age of 32, hatched a plan to move to Kern County for a few months, make some money to buy another car and then return home to his wife and two daughters.
But he found a job as the manager of a car wash, and the plan changed: his family joined him.
His son Jorge, born after his family’s arrival in the United States, says his father was the kind of guy who wanted to do everything the right way. He was a devoted husband, lived in the same house in east Bakersfield for 26 years, and proudly became an American citizen.
“He really earned his American Dream,” Jorge said.
Pauleth and Nadia marvel over the childhood their parents provided on the salary of a car wash manager and wages from cleaning houses.
“We had a very pretty childhood,” Pauleth said.
Sigala DJed at nights on Spanish language radio station KAFY, enabling him to take his daughter to meet musicians, go to concerts or live broadcasting events at Six Flags Magic Mountain and Universal Studios.
“We didn’t have much, but my parents managed to give us the best childhood at our age,” Nadia said.
Sigala would later take on a new job that would free him up during the day for a new role: grandfather. He began working the night shift as the site custodian in BCSD’s Maintenance and Operations Department so that he could care for first grandchild — and then the next three.
“He’d say, ‘My baby is not gonna be in a daycare,’” said Miguel Juarez, a retired utility and maintenance employee.
Mike Hamlin, director of Maintenance and Operations for BCSD, described him as a hard-working man who went out of his way not only to do a good job but to help anyone else who needed it.
“He was a great guy, a great employee and a very happy, very hard-working man,” Hamlin said. “He was dedicated to the district and to his job.”
Sigala would stay past the end of his shift to make sure everyone left work safely. He would go out to all the school sites to assist anyone who needed help.
“He was well-known throughout the district on the custodial staff,” said head custodian Tony Acosta. “It’s hard to even put into words what he did for us.”
When a bus driver was diagnosed with COVID-19 in April, few volunteered to clean that bus. But Sigala suited up and disinfected it without hesitation.
“In the almost 35 years I’ve been with the district, I don’t think I’ve found anyone with the qualities he possessed,” said Arthur Arriola, supervisor of mobile custodial.
‘IT’S LEFT A HUGE VOID’
Pauleth said social distancing was tough for a family as close-knit as the Sigalas, who ate together weekly and spoke daily. She remembers posting a photo of her dad on her Instagram with the caption: “When COVID is over, I’m going to go to my parents’ and hug them so hard.”
The weekend before he was diagnosed with COVID-19, Sigala and his wife hosted a Sunday family BBQ. Sigala bought an inflatable pool for his family, so they could enjoy the outdoors in triple-digit heat. He grilled carne asada and jumped in the pool, too.
“[My kids] had one good last moment with my dad,” Pauleth said.
No one else in the family was diagnosed with coronavirus at that time, though her mom developed some COVID-like symptoms and tested negative. Pauleth thought they had done a good job keeping their social distance. Arriola said no one else in his department had COVID-19 as far as he knew, and they had been tested.
But that was a time in Kern County when COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in the community. Kern County public health data shows that there were
an average of 563 new cases of coronavirus cases a day in the county the week Sigala was diagnosed.
The family said they were in relatively good spirits when Sigala was hospitalized at first. They had no idea he was in for a 40-day ordeal that Nadia describes as “a roller coaster of emotions.”
They texted him and sent him videos. He would text back, sweetly. They FaceTimed him, but discouraged him from trying to talk, urging him to save what little breath he had.
One day they called and found out that he couldn’t catch his breath. Before staff put him on a ventilator, he had asked the nurses to say a prayer for him.
“I’m assuming he was scared,” Pauleth said. “They stopped what they were doing and prayed with him.”
Still, the family says they maintained optimism their father would pull through, because he had always been so healthy and strong in their eyes. He’d never smoked or had serious health issues. But his health kept declining.
“The doctors were telling us he was really sick,” Pauleth said. “We didn’t really believe it.”
At one point, Sigala tested negative for COVID-19, a sliver of good news for the family, because they could finally visit their father in person. They made the trek south three times, worrying each visit would be their last.
“We would spend hours with him,” Jorge said. “We would run our hands through his hair.”
On the final visit, doctors said Sigala’s organs were failing. The family called for a priest. Sigala’s wife and three children all gathered around him, holding his hands.
As the priest finished the prayer and pronounced “Amen,” his heart flatlined, his family said.
“We prayed, and it was a beautiful death,” Pauleth said.
But his death on Sept. 7 has left the people who knew him reeling.
“It’s left a huge void. It’s very hard to even really adjust to come to terms that he’s no longer with us,” said Nadia. “It doesn’t feel real. I’m still struggling with that.”
His family urges the community to take COVID seriously.
“It’s taking good people away,” Pauleth said. “He was a great grandpa. He was good friend. He was just really devoted.”