Judge Cagle attended Mount Pleasant and Cypress grade schools and graduated from Marion High School and Washington University in St. Louis. He received his juris doctorate degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago after which he was admitted to the Illinois Bar.
Albert’s family appears to have moved from Union County between the 1910 and 1920 federal censuses. His family was found, in the 1920 census, to be living in their family home at 1007 N. Logan Street. In this census his father was a laborer doing street work and his parents were supporting seven children counting Albert.
In the 1930 census, the family is still living on N. Logan, his father’s work is now in carpentry. Albert is 27 and listed as working as a book keeper at a local garage. His siblings present are Hattie M. Cagle, 29, a grade school teacher, Lena M. Cagle, 23, hospital nurse, Carl C. Cagle, 21, butcher, and younger sisters, Jessie Cagle, 18, and Marjorie Cagle, 14, still in school.
He married the former Helen Stiff in Carbondale on November 4, 1944.
Judge Cagle was elected County Judge of Williamson in 1950 and was re-elected in 1954. In 1959 he was elected city Judge of Marion.
On January 1, 1964, with the implementation of the new Judicial Article, he became an associate Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Illinois, and was reelected in 1966. He retired as a circuit Judge in 1972.
By 1965, the Cagle’s had purchased a home located at 1705 W. Hendrickson Street.
Judge Cagle was a member of the Williamson County Bar Association and had served as its president and secretary. He also was a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Judicature Society, Illinois Associate Judges Association and the National Council of Juvenile Court Judges.
Cagle was also a member of the Williamson County Farm Bureau, Ainad Temple of East St. Louis, the Lodge Council Chapter of the White Shrine of Jerusalem, a lifetime member of the Marion Kiwanis Club and Masonic Temple No. 89 A.F and A.M.
Judge Cagle had served on the Southern Illinois University Foundation Board for 20 years, and had been an attorney for the Southern Baptist Association for 20 years. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Marion where he was a deacon, a member of the finance committee and a men’s Sunday school class teacher.
In addition to being a member of the Executive Committee of Illinois Council of Juvenile Court Judges, Judge Cagle served as a member of the board of directors of the Big Brothers and Sisters Association of Illinois for a number of years.
He had previously served on the board of directors of the United Fund and was president of the Illinois Baptist State Brotherhood in 1959.
Retired Circuit Judge A.R. Cagle, 83, of 1705 W. Hendrickson St., Marion, died at 10:50 p.m. Monday, November 6, 1985, at Marion Memorial Hospital.
Judge Cagle was survived by his wife Helen, a daughter and son-in-law, Danny and Kathleen Furlong of Jacksonville; a son and daughter-in-law, Jim and Beverly Cagle of San Antonio, Tex.; five grandchildren, Rachelle and Pamela Furlong, and Kevin, Sharlayne and Ellen Cagle; one brother, Wilmer Cagle of San Diego, Calif.; and two sisters, Marjorie Taylor of San Clemente, Calif, and Mrs. Lyman (Jesse) Allen of Henderson, Ky.
He was preceded in death by one brother, Carl Cagle, and three sisters, Hettie Calhoun, Lena Campbell and Helen Cagle.
Funeral services for Judge Cagle were held at 11 a.m. Thursday, November 7th, at Mitchell-Hughes with the Revs. James E. Bryant and Noel Taylor officiating. Visitation was held at the funeral home. Burial was in the Rose Hill Cemetery.
Helen S. Cagle continued living at their W. Hendrickson street home. She had a Bachelor’s Degree in education and a Master’s Degree in mathematics. Helen was a retired mathematics teacher at the Marion High School and passed away in November 1993. She was interred at Rose Hill with Albert.
(Data and photo extracted from Marion Daily Republican obits, November 1985; 1965 M.H.S. Memory kit; Federal Census Records; Marion City Cemetery Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 08/25/2013)