Following grandpa’s footsteps

Clinton man, 100, passes on woodworking skills to granddaughter

By Scott Thoma

In 2018, instead of jewelry or candy as a present for her birthday and Christmas from her husband, Gary, Missy Sigler of rural Clinton got exactly what she wanted. In order to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, she received a table scroll saw for her November birthday and a drill press the following month for Christmas.

Missy Sigler and her grandfather, Bud deNeui, with a tri-fold nativity scene. Bud, age 100, is a long-time woodworker who has passed on his skills and knowledge to his granddaughter. Contributed photo

Missy’s grandfather, Bud deNeui, was featured in the Senior Perspective in 2015 for his detailed scroll saw creations. He taught Missy how to make his artistic wooden pieces before passing the torch to her after making one final “Noah’s Ark” piece a few months shy of his 94th birthday in 2019.

Bud, who turns 101 in April, now resides at Fairway View Senior Communities in Ortonville where Missy is the Assisted Living Director.

“I have learned so much from my grandpa,” Missy said. “He gave me all of his woodworking tools with the understanding that anyone in our family can borrow any of the tools. He still wants to know what I’m making, what type of wood I’m using, and what type of blade I’m using. When I’m done with the project, he wants to see it.”

With all the additional tools now in her possession, Missy needed additional space from where she had been working in the garage, so she began sharing the shop with her husband, who spent time doing miscellaneous mechanical repairs on their hog farm.

“This allowed us to work in the evenings, him doing what he likes and me doing what I like,” she explained.

Over a year ago, Gary informed his wife that she was creating too much dust and was taking up too much space in the shop.

“So, we made a wall in the garage where I first started to divide it out,” Missy said. “This gave me a larger area so I can have my tools, benches, and expand my hobby. I have since bought a dust collection system and have a couple display cabinets. Now he has his shop and I have my own (16’ x 32’) shop.”

Missy Sigler using her table scroll saw to work on an item. Contributed photo

Although she didn’t use a scroll saw, the first thing Missy ever made without her grandpa’s assistance was a set of lawn dominoes.

While Gary isn’t a woodworker by trade, he and Missy made 30 pine picnic tables together last year.

In her shop, Missy has completed pieces made by five generations of the deNeui family.

“My great grandpa, Charles deNeui, used to make bird houses, ship replicas, and landscape pictures using bark and sand,” Missy said. “Bud made many things like bookshelves, scroll saw items and more. My dad, Paul deNeui, made different items and I have a rocking horse in my shop that he made when I was a little girl. My youngest daughter, Morgan, now 17, also did some basic cutting of shapes in 2022.”

Missy and Gary also have two grown children, Melanie and Michael.

Grandpa Bud briefly came out of woodworking retirement last fall, helping Missy for a few hours in her shop to create a Nativity log, which he had made several of in his woodworking shop. The nativity scene is cut out on one side of the log utilizing a scroll saw.

Among the many different items Missy creates with her scroll saw, the nativity scenes of all kinds are among her favorites.

Some of the nativity scenes are tri-fold pieces.

“In 2020, during COVID, I videotaped grandpa putting the nativity pieces together,” Missy said. “When I make them now, I still watch the video tape to see the right way to put the hinges on.”

Missy with some of the wooden creations he she has made thanks to the help/advice of her grandpa.

Most of the pieces Missy creates are made out of oak or black walnut; two hardwoods that “let the saw do the work.”

To construct one of her detailed items, Missy places painter’s tape on the pieces of wood, then glues a pattern on the tape. She begins by drilling holes in the spaces that need to be removed with a tiny drill bit, then begins cutting those spaces out with scroll saw blades as “thin as the lead in a mechanical pencil.”

One of the more elaborate and time-consuming pieces she makes is an Easter scene that depicts scenes from Palm Sunday up to the Resurrection.

“I also enjoy when people ask me if I can make this or that for them,” she said. “A couple of years ago, my nephew asked me if I could make him a chess board with all of the pieces. I also had a neighbor who was a dairy farmer ask if I could make a Holstein cow and barn. I sometimes combine patterns or try to draw out my own pattern. Most challenges are accepted one way or another.”

Missy Sigler and her grandfather, Bud deNeui, with a nativity scene cut out of a log. Bud, age 100, is a long-time woodworker who has passed on his skills and knowledge to his granddaughter. Contributed photo

Missy hasn’t had any accidents during her woodworking time spent in the shop, although she did trim off some fingernails one time when she got too close to the blade.

Missy has attended some craft shows to sell off some of the pieces so she can make new ones. She also gives away a lot of the pieces she makes as gifts.

“I like visiting with the people at a craft show and talking about our hobbies, but this is certainly not a business,” she said. “It’s definitely a hobby which passes a lot of time.”

Once she is engrossed in the construction of an item, time often gets away from her.

“My family has to remind me to stop and come in the house and make supper,” she said with a laugh.