Ilion High School - Class of 1905

Utica Observer - September 30, 1968

W. M. VanWiggeren; Long State Senator

Article 7

W. M. VanWiggeren; Long State Senator

ILION - Walter M. Van Wiggeren, 80, of 7 Center St., long a member of the State Senate, died last night in Mohawk Valley General Hospital here after a short illness.

Senator Van Wiggeren was born in Yorkville. His family came to Ilion in 1900 and he attended Ilion schools. He married Gladys Bradbury on Sept. 2, 1913. They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1963.

Until be was 38, Mr. Van Wiggeren was a tool and machine designer at the Ilion plant of the Remington Arms Co. He served as a village trustee for a term and as Mayor of Ilion for two terms before his appointment as Herkimer County clerk in 1928.

Mr. Van Wiggeren had a distinguished career as county clerk and as a Republican leader in the county before relinquishing the post in 1949 when he defeated George Entwistle, Democratic and Labor Party candidate, in a race for state. senator for the 40th District, comprising Herkimer, Lewis, Hamilton and Fulton counties.

Mr. Van Wiggeren was elected then for one year to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Fred A. Young of Lowville who became a memver of the Court of Claims.

Mr. Van Wiggeren's election in 1949 launched a long career in the Senate during which the Ilion Republican won re-election for seven two-year terms, serving a total of 15 years before he retired in 1965.

He was defeated for re-election in the Republican primary in 1964 by Dalwin Niles of Johnstown and also lost a bid to return to Albany as the Conservative Party candidate.

During his tenure in Albany, Senator Van Wiggeren was a member of mnay influential committees and chairman of several of them.

He was the ranking member of the Senate during his last term. He served as chairman of the important Joint Legislative Committee on Commerce and Economic Development and during his tenure was a member of Joint Legislative Committees on Natural Resources, Firearms and Ammunition and Housing and Urban Development.

He was chairman of the Senate's standing Committee on Agriculture, a chairman and member of the Conservation and a member of such other committees as banks, finance, highways and parkways, labor and industry, motor vehicles and transportation and affairs of the City of New York.

For 14 years he never missed a working day or a roll on an Important Issue. In 1961 he was one of the most active senators in the state, introducing 92 bills and one resolution.

Senator Van Wiggeren, who spent many summers at the family camp near Cedar Lake, also was active in civic, social and fraternal affairs. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church in Ilion, serving as elder for many years: a 32nd Degree Mason (Yahnundasis Bodies of the Scottish Rite), a member of Ziyara Shrine Temple and long a trustee of the Cedar Lake Club. He also was a member of the conversation club.

He leaves his wife, two sisters, Mrs. Elsie Edwards. Johnstown and Mrs. Jane Boote, Madison, Wis., and two brothers, Allen, Collingsvilla, Conn. and Richard, Tonowanda.

The funeral wiU be at 2 Wednesday from the First Presbyterian Church with burial in Armory Hill Cemetery.

Calling hours are from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 tomorrow at the Applegate Funeral Home. Masonic-services will be conducted at 7:30 p. m. tomorrow.