Janet Zimmer

Janet Mae Zimmer, 92, died August 14, 2012 at Franciscan Oaks Health Center in Denville, New Jersey. She was born on February 26, 1920 at home in St. Clair County, Michigan. The doctor who delivered her also delivered her future husband at home in nearby Smith’s Creek. They would not meet each other until they were teenagers.

Janet attended a one-room country school house for several years. She completed elementary school in Marysville where she also attended Marysville High School. In her junior and senior years, she played the lead in the annual school play. Following graduation, she attended Cleary College in Ypsilanti, where she acquired her secretarial skills.

In 1942, she married Basil Zimmer in Port Huron, Michigan. When he returned from serving overseas during World War II, they moved to Willow Run. He attended the University of Michigan (thanks to the G. I. Bill) and obtained his doctorate. Janet worked at nearby Kaiser Frazier for a short time as a secretary and also typed dissertations for U of M graduate students. Their son was born in St. Clair and their daughter in Ann Arbor. The family moved to Flint in 1953 where Basil taught at U of M-Flint. In 1959, they moved to Providence, Rhode Island where Basil became a professor at Brown University. Janet worked part-time at Brown as a research assistant.

Janet and Basil enjoyed traveling. In the summer of 1964, they took their most memorable trip when Basil received a grant to teach statistical research methods for eight weeks at Kerala University in Trivandrum, India. The family used this opportunity to travel around the world, stopping for a few days each in Madrid, Rome, Cairo, Bombay, New Delhi, Agra, Calcutta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Honolulu, and San Francisco. Soon after her husband’s death in 1990, Janet moved to Franciscan Oaks in Denville, New Jersey, which is near her daughter’s family. She enjoyed spending time with her seven grandchildren and providing encouragement to each of them.

Janet survived by her son, Basil, Jr. (Theresa) of Mt. Pleasant; her daughter, Linda (Bill) Walsh of Bernardsville, New Jersey; her sister, Jean J. Robinson of Oak Lawn, Illinois; seven grandsons; and seven great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Basil; her parents, Bruce and Elsie Jackson; her sister and brother-in-law, Frances and Robert Keefe; and all of her husband’s siblings, Clarence, Bernice, Evelyn, Harold, Leo, and Marvin; and their spouses, Theresa, Dwain Dunsmore, Max Bower, Marge, Virginia, and Peggy.

Visitation will be 12-1 p.m. on Saturday, August 18, 2012 in the Marysville Funeral Home with a service following at 1 p.m.

Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, St. Clair.