Shirley V. Zimmerman

Shirley Viola Zimmerman, age 95, died peacefully on Tuesday, October 30, 2018, at Tower View Villa in Rosendale, Wisconsin, after a protracted battle with Alzheimer's Disease.



Shirley was born in Waupun, Wisconsin, on May 8, 1923, the third child of Earl and Bessie (Robbins) Zimmerman. She had two sisters, Doris (Zimmerman) Harper and Phyllis (Zimmerman) Hatch, and one brother, Richard Zimmerman. The family moved to Rosendale, Wisconsin in 1935, where they operated a dairy farm. Shirley was graduated from Rosendale High School in 1941. Soon after, she entered the St. Agnes School of Nursing in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as a member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, and was graduated in 1945. Shirley was assigned to the Percy Jones General and Convalescent Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she continued to work until the end of W.W. II, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. She continued her long career of service in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps as a Registered Nurse, working for many years at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, while also continuing to serve at Fort McCoy near Tomah, Wisconsin. Upon retirement from the Army Nurse Corps in 1980, she had attained the rank of Colonel, the highest rank given in the A.N.C. Additionally, Shirley was dedicated to the well-being of her family, spending time away from hospital work to care for her mother, Bessie, until her mother's death in 1982. She spent her retirement years at her lakeside cabin in Coloma, Wisconsin, where she enjoyed entertaining family and friends, and at her home in Palm Bay, Florida, where she was an active member of her church.



Shirley is survived by her sister Doris Harper of York, Pennsylvania; her sister-in-law, Jean (Welles) Zimmerman, of Rosendale, Wisconsin; five nephews; two nieces; and 27 great-nephews and nieces. She is predeceased by her parents, Earl and Bessie; her sister, Phyllis Hatch; her brother, Richard Zimmerman; her brothers-in-law, William Harper and Loyd Hatch; and her fiance, Richard A. Higley, M.D., of Marinette, Wisconsin.



A memorial service, with military honors, will be held on Saturday, November 24, 2018, at 12:00 noon at the Rosendale United Church of Christ, 204 W. Division St, Rosendale, WI, 54974, with a luncheon to follow at the church. Shirley will be buried in a private service at the Forest Mound Cemetery in Waupun, Wisconsin.