Samuel G. Vigil

Obituary

Samuel Gilbert Vigil was born on August 1, 1932, in a small mining village outside Walsenburg, Colorado, to Daniel Vigil and Cleofas Martinez, the youngest of five boys.

He was united in marriage to Eleanor M. Kahler on November 27, 1954, in Seattle, Wash. Their marriage was blessed with three sons, Samuel Jr., Timothy and John. They were married for 65 years until her passing on April 10, 2020.

During their marriage, they lived in Washington state, California, Hawaii and for the last three years, Hutchinson, Minnesota. During his career, Sam was a Seventh-day Adventist high school teacher, church pastor and hospital chaplain.

After moving to California with his family in 1942, Sam attended San Francisco Junior Academy, the Spanish-American Seminary (Sandia View Academy, New Mexico), Monterey Bay Academy and finally Golden Gate Academy in Oakland, California, graduating in 1952.

After trying college, he served in the US Army from 1953-55, training as a medic and radio operator. Sam again pursued his education at Seattle Pacific College, Walla Walla College and ultimately earned his bachelor’s degree from Pacific Union College in 1962. Over the next 11 years he taught Spanish, History and Religion at Adventist high schools in California and Hawaii. He then pastored for 16 years in California. In 1989 he became chaplain at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles and then at Adventist Health Hanford, California, until his retirement in 2015, two weeks shy of his 83rd birthday.

In 1966 he earned his master’s degree in Spanish from Pacific Union College. Later he earned a master’s degree in marriage, family and child counseling from San Francisco State University, which provided a foundation for his work as hospital chaplain.

He was a leader and mentor in his professions and a pioneer among Adventist hospital chaplains, one of the few who held an advanced degree in counseling as well as being board-certified and bilingual.

Sam’s hobbies included photography, and Bible study and research.

Sam passed away peacefully on August 16, 2020, at Harmony River Living Center at the age of 88 after a three-month battle with inoperable brain tumors with his three sons at his side.

Sam is preceded in death by his wife, Eleanor, parents Daniel and Cleofas Vigil, and siblings Bertha, Henry, Daniel, Amos and Richard.

Samuel is survived by his
Sons, Samuel Jr. (Jan) of Damascus, Ore.;
           Timothy (Linda) of Hutchinson, Minn.;
            John (Lisa) of Glendale, Calif.;
Five grandchildren, Sara Stevens (Andy) of Vancouver, Wash.;
                                    Kelli Wasemiller (Stephen) of Rapid City, S.D.;
                                    Adam Vigil (Kathryn) of Olympia, Wash.;
                                    Jennifer Vigil of Rochester, Minn.;
                                    Shannon Vigil Umali (Nick) of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.