Cagley Won’t Seek Reelection, Citing Wife’s Ill Health

Retired Army Col. Tom Cagley, who won more than 50 percent of the vote for Lake Forest City Council in a landslide showing during the recall of Andrew Hamilton, will not be seeking re-election in November for the District 2. Cagley made the decision recently, based solely on the ill health of his wife, Nancy.

“Nancy was devoted to my getting elected,” Cagley said. “She had served as president of the Sun & Sail Women's Club several different times and, frankly, it was her networking that contributed to my victory. She was instrumental in distributing literature and carrying my message to the voters.

“When I won the election with more than 50 percent of the vote, I fully intended to run again. However, eight days before the Jan. 2 election, on December 26, Nancy was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Eight days after the election, on January 10, UC Irvine Health Center in Orange performed surgery to remove the tumor. During the surgery she suffered a stroke and remains paralyzed on the right side.”

To stem the tumor, she had 33 days of radiation, then began chemotherapy in April, but her health deteriorated rapidly. She has been hospitalized twice, for four days apiece, with infections following chemotherapy. In the last eight months, Nancy has been in two different rehabilitation facilities for a month each, three weeks in Intensive Care Units, and two weeks in isolation wards.

“The last infection occurred the day I pulled papers in the morning, and that evening, I was in the ER with Nancy,” Cagley said. “That was the moment I knew I could not seek reelection.

“Her sons – she was a widow when we met – and I met with the medical staff and decided we did not want Nancy to continue to suffer in this situation, and agreed to take her off chemo and place her in hospice care.”

Cagley works every day in a rehabilitation role, along with professional therapists and other family members.
Nancy Cagley’s youngest son was diagnosed with a tumor in his throat the day after Nancy received her diagnosis. In April, Tom Cagley’s sister was diagnosed with breast cancer.

According to Cagley, he and his wife met in 2010 on Match.com, but didn’t hit it off right away. However, they got back together in early 2012 and married on August 25, 2012.

During his brief tenure on the City Council -- he was elected on Jan. 2 -- Cagley is Lake Forest’s representative on the OC Library Advisory Board, co-authored the city’s ethics code, and is the voting delegate on the Joint Powers Insurance Authority for the City. One of his first actions as a councilman was to ask for the creation of a Traffic and Parking Commission.

At the time of his election there was concern that Cagley, along with Leah Basile and Jim Gardner, would create a new “gang of three.” However, the voting clearly shows that hasn’t been the case as there have been very few votes in which they vote together to create a three-vote majority.

Cagley is a 37-year veteran of the military, served on the Orange County Grand Jury for a year, and was a member of the Texas Emergency Reaction Center for six years in which he responded to “a half-dozen hurricanes, a major fire, and mud slides.”

He also was a founder of the Lake Forest United States Marine Corps Support Committee.

“I’ve served my time and it is time to become the ‘elder statesman’ or, as I used to say, get a pipe and knife and sit on the town square whittling and telling war stories to little boys,” Cagley said.

“I do not intend to drop out of sight. I will continue to serve on the Lake Forest USMC Support Committee, and will participate as an involved citizen as it seems appropriate.”

Photo: Nancy and Tom Cagley in Heidelberg, May 2013.