Mary J. Zimmerman

Mary Jean Zimmerman

June 14, 1949 – March 11, 2026

Mary didn’t wait for life to come to her. She went to find it.

Born in Pottsville on a summer’s day in 1949–a twin!–Mary grew up as one of four in the Schuylkill Haven many remember, the kind of place where family lived down the street from family, where neighbors let themselves in through the back door without a knock, and where a dining room table could anchor an entire block.

She was a daughter of Ray and Bessie (McGoey) Zimmerman, a graduate of Nativity BVM High School, Class of 1967, and for a time, she worked the floor of the Edison lamp factory alongside the people she’d known her whole life.

But Mary watched her big sister. And when she saw where Joanne pointed, she decided to follow an out-of-town life. She chose Washington, D.C.

It was a bold choice for a young woman from the coal region, and it suited her. Mary built a career with the National Labor Relations Board (though her relatives were impressed simply knowing she worked, as they all called it, “for the government”) spending decades in the D.C. suburbs of Alexandria, becoming the next new version of herself. Anyone who knew her knows Mary lived life entirely on her own terms, an independent woman before it was easy to be one.

For her nieces and nephew, a visit to Aunt Mary was nothing short of an adventure. There was the long travel, the anticipation building with every mile. There were the tourist tours of the Capital–monuments, museums and gift shop paperweights. But what they remember most vividly is the magic of life in a high-rise apartment: the elevator ride up, the city lights spread out below like a map, the latest 17 Magazine bought just for them, Jiffy Pop begging to be shaken over the big burner and the long carpeted hallways, obviously architected for one thing only: relay races. Mary let them.

She was the fun aunt. The one the kids jostled for a seat next to at Thanksgiving. The one who arrived with cool makeup they had seen on tv commercials and an unbelievable pink suitcase that seemed to contain a whole other world. She was most at home at Pop’s table, the nucleus of the neighborhood: Yuengling always cold, the back door always unlocked, conversation always loud, overlapping and loving. Mary loved it here.

There was also The American Legion, where her twin brother Jerry held court with the ease of a man beloved by his community. His light shone bright on her when she visited, and she basked in it. She was an honorary Legionnaire in spirit, if not in paperwork.

Eventually, after decades away, Mary retired and came home to Schuylkill Haven. It was a quieter chapter. She had seen the world she wanted to see, built the life she had chosen to build. Coming home meant returning to her center of gravity: her family.

Her final chapter brought her to Lancaster, after a prolonged battle with kidney disease required more attentive care. She passed quietly on March 11th at Oak Leaf Manor in Landisville, surrounded by new friends. What she looked forward to most was the company of daily visits from her sister, brother and sister-in-law in her final weeks.

Mary is survived by her sister, Joanne Gusso, wife of Phil; her brother Dennis Zimmerman, husband of Judy; by nieces Beth Baird (Jon), Debbie Ruhl (Jeff), Tracy Thompson (Steve), Megan Roth (Jesse) and nephew Kyle Zimmerman; and by the wider constellation of family she spent a lifetime belonging to. She is preceded in death by her parents and her beloved twin, Jerry.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 AM on Saturday, April 11th at St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church, Schuylkill Haven, with visitation from 9:15 to 10:15 AM in the church chapel. Interment will follow at Saint Ambrose Cemetery.

Geschwindt Stabingas Ebling Funeral Home, Inc., Schuylkill Haven, has been entrusted with arrangements.

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