Henry Victor “Harry” Zahm, Jr.
Harry Zahm, 87, of Clearwater, died Monday (July 14, 2003) at Largo Medical Center. He was born in Oberlin, Ohio, [graduated from OHS in 1933,] and came here in 1974 from Syracuse, N.Y., where he retired as director of manufacturing after 34 years with Bristol-Myers. He graduated from Ohio State University. Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Donna; a son, Douglas, Tampa; a brother; and two granddaughters. Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home, Clearwater.
St. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg, Florida, Wednesday, July 16, 2003.

Burial Today -- Phip Zahm: POW, poker and Purple Heart
Sunday evening E. Philip “Phip” Zahm, 64, died of an apparent heart attack at this home, No. 1 Clark Court, while playing cards with Oberlin friends.
It was a pastime of which he was very fond. He was known and respected as one very good poker player.
He will be best remembered for his many years at his Mainland Sohio gas station, smiling and friendly, and on sunny days in shorts and gym shoes.
Monday night Oberlin City Council passed a memorial resolution and observed a period of silence for the man who served the city when called on as a city manager and councilman.
His funeral services will be 11 a.m. today at Cowling Funeral Home with John Elder officiating followed by burial at Westwood Cemetery where a military graveside service will be held.
Born in Oberlin, a [1940] graduate of Oberlin High School, he left only to attend Ohio State University and to serve in the United States Air Force in World War II. He was shot down in Germany, was a prisoner of war for two years and received the Purple Heart.
After the war he returned to Oberlin where his father, Harry “H.V.” Zahm, was city manager, and from 1950 to 1952 was his father’s administrative assistant. On his father’s retirement in January 1952 he was appointed city manager and served until resigning in 1955 to enter the gas station business.
During his administration, the upgrade reservoir on Pyle Road was built. From 1957 to 1959 he was a member of the Oberlin City Council.
For several years he operated a Gulf Oil station and for the past 28 years owned and operated the Mainland Sohio station on South Main Street.
“He was an Oberlin fixture,” said Frank Zavodsky who knew Phip Zahm all his life. ‘If you came down Main Street there he was at the gas station.”
James Zahm, brother of Phip, agreed – “he lived for his business. He also liked to go fishing. When he went fishing he was in paradise.”
Phip Zahm did not have a family but treated “his boys” at the station – Bob Rogers, Mike and Dave Frederick – as sons. Rogers spoke of the strength, “like the trunk of a tree,” that he provided for them.
He traveled through the year to California, Florida and New York to keep in touch with his brothers and their families.
He was a member of the First Church, the Oberlin Rotary Club, Oberlin Lodge 380 F.&A.M., and a past commander and current treasurer of the Karl Wilson Locke Post 102, American Legion.
He was a regular in the front line of parades in Oberlin, marching with the American Legion along with Howard Gorske, Frank Zavodsky and Paul Stone.
“He is going to be sadly, sadly missed as an individual and as a businessman,” said his lifetime friend Paul Schubert.
He is survived by two brothers, James L. of Capitola, Calif., and Harry V. of Clearwater, Fla.; three nephews and a niece.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Cardiac Care Unit of Allen Memorial Hospital.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, September 11, 1986, p. 1.

Margaret A. Zalka
Elyria -- Margaret A. Zalka, 84, of Elyria, died Monday, Oct. 6, 2003, at EMH Regional Medical Center, Elyria, following a brief illness.
She was born May 27, 1919, in Oberlin, [graduated from OHS in 1938,] and was a lifelong Elyria area resident.
Ms. Zalka was employed in the surgery department of the former Elyria Memorial Hospital for 30 years, retiring in 1981.
She was a member of St. Jude Catholic Church, Elyria. She enjoyed reading, flowers and crossword puzzles.
Survivors include nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sisters Helen Charnowski and Mary Shook; and brothers Vincent, Louis and Joseph Zalka.
Friends may call Wednesday, 4 to 7 p.m., at Bauer-Laubenthal Funeral Home, 38475 Chestnut Ridge Road, Elyria. Services there Thursday at 10:30 a.m. will be followed at 11 a.m. by Mass in St. Jude Church, 590 Poplar St. Burial will be in St. Mary Cemetery, Elyria.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Church, 590 Poplar St., Elyria 44035; or Second Harvest Foodbank, 7445 Deer Trail Lane, Lorain 44053
The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Wednesday, October 08, 2003.

Franklin Henry Zavodsky
Franklin Henry Zavodsky, 79, of Oberlin, died Jan. 19 at Allen Memorial Hospital.
Born in Cleveland, he had lived in Oberlin all his life [and was a 1936 graduate of OHS].
After Army service in World War II, he began his long career with the city of Oberlin. During his 50 years of work, he served as Westwood Cemetery Sexton, Director of Public Works, and several times as Acting City Manager.
He was a past president of the Oberlin Exchange Club, honorary trustee of Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization, and a member of the American Legion Post 102. Recently, he had joined the advisory board of Oberlin Seniors.
Mr. Zavodsky was a recipient of the Paul Harris Award from the Oberlin Rotary Club, and a past recipient of the News-Tribune’s Oberlinian of the Year Award. He was also active in the Oberlin tree planting program.
Survivors include his wife, Carol (nee Shreffler); daughters Barbara Love of Coopersville, Mich., and Robin Jindra of Oberlin; and three grandchildren.
A private family burial was held at Westwood Cemetery.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, at First Church in Oberlin with the Rev. Douglas S. Long officiating.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Oberlin Public Library.
Zavodsky worked as public servant
The ever-changing face of local history will have another significant entry to record following the death of longtime public servant Frank Zavodsky on Jan. 19 at the age of 79.
Anyone who knows a little about Oberlin, or has come to know more about its ancestors, has probably benefited from the work of Zavodsky, the Westwood Cemetery sextant until 1984 and unofficial historian of the area.
Zavodsky first came to Oberlin when he was eight years old in 1925. He married his high school sweetheart, Carol, and together they became partners in life and work.
Last Feb. 3, 12 years after Frank Zavodsky retired, he was honored with a reception at the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization’s Monroe House.
He was hired by the city in 1946 as a waterworks helper and was soon hired as the cemetery director. According to an article which appeared in the Aug. 12, 1976 edition of the News-Tribune, the Zavodskys were given a small bungalow in the deal, located at 429 Morgan St.
Built in 1884, the house was dilapidated, but the Zavodskys were not deterred, remodeling it over the years. At the time, there were no street lights by the house, it had no electricity and few neighbors.
They knocked out walls, rewired the house, installed plumbing and added a family of two daughters, Robin and Barbara.
During his career Zavodsky went from waterworks helper to cemetery chief to public works director, in charge of all city utility activities except the electric plant, with occasional stints as acting city manager. He was public works director from 1954 to 1970 and served under more than a half dozen city managers.
He and his wife were instrumental, if not solely responsible, for the cemetery which they took over at a time when it was jokingly called “Westweed” Cemetery. They used sparse funds from the tree fund to buy trees in quantity to landscape the cemetery.
Zavodsky officially retired in 1984, after nearly 50 years of work for the city. But he continued to keep busy, selling grave sites and meeting with funeral directors. He and his wife became genealogists of sorts, helping visitors trace their family histories.
His knowledge of those buried in the cemetery was immeasurable and a source of information for many.
In an article which appeared in the Jan. 30, 1996 issue of the News-Tribune, Zavodsky said of his wife, and life’s work, “She’s my partner, not my helper. It would be hard for me to do what I do here without her, but that’s the way it’s always been.”
In the time since he retired, Zavodsky helped put together a computer-generated list of those buried at Westwood. He continued to give tours, pointing out the graves of famous Oberlinians.
Photograph caption: Last year, Frank Zavodsky and his wife, Carol, look over an old map of the city, found and restored.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, January 28, 1997, p. 9.

Charles Zbydnowski
Cleveland -- Charles ''Stanley'' Zbydnowski, 86, of Cleveland, died Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002, at Rae Ann Nursing Home, Cleveland, following a lengthy illness.
He was born in Oberlin [graduated from Oberlin High School in 1935] and had been a resident of Cleveland since 1943.
He worked at the Amherst Quarry in the early 1940s and also worked on several farms in the Oberlin area. He was a former member of Sacred Heart Church, Oberlin. He enjoyed farming.
Survivors include his sisters, Cecelia Zgrabic of Oberlin, Helen Romanowski of Cleveland, Wanda Jurco of North Ridgeville and Dorothy Adams of Miami; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his brothers, John and Joseph; and parents, Wtadiskawa and Adam Zbydnowski.
Friends may call Monday from 8:30 a.m. until time of prayer services at 9:30 a.m. at David Bogner Family Funeral Home, 36625 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville. Mass will follow at 10 a.m. at St. Peter Catholic Church, 35777 Center Ridge Road, North Ridgeville with the Rev. Thomas J. Pajk officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Elyria.
The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Saturday, October 19, 2002.

Joseph Henry Zbydniowski, 88

Rev. Arthur A. Zebbs
The Rev. Arthur Alvin Zebbs, 66, of Lyndhurst, former pastor of Rust United Methodist Church in Oberlin, died Jan. 23, at Meridia Hillcrest Hospital after a heart attack at his home.
He was born in Oberlin and graduated from Oberlin High School [in 1945]. After graduating from Dillard University in New Orleans, La., he earned the B.D. degree from the Oberlin Graduate School of Theology and the Div.M. degree from Vanderbilt School of Theology.
Rev. Zebbs served as pastor of two churches in Illinois and five in Ohio. Then, after semi-retirement, he became associate pastor of Cory United Methodist Church in Cleveland in July 1992.
During the 1960s he was director of the Conference of Racial Equality in Columbus, director of the Southeast Center of the Columbus Metropolitan Area Community Action Organization, and director of the Black Studies department at Denison University.
For 10 years he wrote a column for the Columbus Call and Post.
Survivors include his wife, Lillian “Shannon”; daughters, Gloria Anderson of Columbus and Sybil “Candy” White of Mansfield, La.; sons, Alvin Marti Zebbs of Columbus and Arthur Amil Zebbs of Lyndhurst; 10 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and his mother, Emma Anna Zebbs of Oberlin.
He was preceded in death by his father, William Arthur Zebbs, and a daughter Emily Beal.
Services were at the Cory United Methodist Church, Cleveland, on Jan. 28, his birthday.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, February 2, 1993, p. 2.

Irene Elizabeth Zelenka
Elyria -- Irene Elizabeth Zelenka, 84, of Elyria, passed away March 17, 2008, at Elyria Memorial Hospital in Elyria.
Born on Feb. 27, 1924, Irene had lived all her life in the Elyria and Oberlin areas. She was a graduate of Oberlin High School in 1942. She was a toll collector on the Ohio Turnpike at Exit 8 for 15 years. Irene was past secretary to Women Senior Fellowship, Elyria. She was a member of LaGrange Craft Club and Lorain Co. Craft Club. She enjoyed crafts, music, seamstressing, puzzles and family.
She was preceded in death by father, George Bare; mother, Frances Lazelle Bare; first husband, Joseph Tkach; second husband, Charles Zelenka; son, Ronald W. Tkach; grandson, Jeremy Deulley; and sister, Ernestine Marie Schmitz.
She is survived by son, James H. Zelenka, of Elyria; daughters Virginia R. Goetz and Carol A. Buckley, both of Elyria; 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be Thursday, March 20, 2008, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Cowling Funeral Home, 228 S. Main St., Oberlin. A funeral service will be Friday, March 21, 2008, at 10 a.m. at the funeral home. Pastor Richard Kretchmar, of Zion United Methodist Church, will officiate. Interment will be at Westwood Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Heart Association, 5455 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43214; or Zion United Methodist Church, 43720 Telegraph Rd., Elyria, OH 44035
The Morning Journal, Lorain, Ohio, Wed., March 19, 2008.

Carl (Pat) Zimmerman
Carl (Pat) Zimmerman, 62, a resident of 111 Hollywood here prior to 1969 when he moved to Palmetto, Fla., died in Allen Hospital Monday following a long illness.
Zimmerman owned and operated Pat Zimmerman Motors in Elyria from 1947 until his retirement about two months ago.
He was a member and former trustee of First Church, a member of the Elks lodge, [a 1929 graduate of OHS,] and a 1932 graduate of Ashland College. He was a navy veteran who served during World War II.
Surviving are a son, Dr. Eric Zimmerman of Columbus; a daughter, Mrs. Paul (Carla) Rimelspach of Elyria; a step-daughter, Linda Haskins of Florida; four step-sons, David and Bruce Haskins of Dayton, Dennis Haskins of Elyria, and Richard Haskins Jr. of North Olmsted; six grandchildren; his mother, Mrs. Florence Zimmerman of Fremont; two brothers, Dr. John Zimmerman of Fremont and Leon Zimmerman of Leesburg, Va.; five sisters, Mrs. Paul (LaVerne) Sloan of Houghton, Mich., Mrs. Laighton (Helen) Crowe of Chicago Heights, Ill., Mrs. Kenneth (Dorothy) Gager of Washington, Mrs. Ralph (Mildred) Marke of Skippack, Pa., and Mrs. Martin (Gertrude) Rogers of Brockport, N.Y.
His first wife, Louise, died in 1959, and his wife, Wilma Ruth, died on Aug. 28.
Friends will be received at Cowling Funeral Home today (Thursday) from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Services will be held in the funeral home tomorrow at 1 p.m. with the Rev. John Elder officiating. Burial will be in Westwood Cemetery.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, October 18, 1973, p. 4.

Ex-Mayor May Have Suffered a Heart Attack [Eleanor Zimmerman]
City Council member and former Mayor Eleanor [nee Geauman] Zimmerman died of an apparent heart attack Monday. She was 77.
Zimmerman, who was serving her first term on the council, was mayor of Norwalk [Calif.] from April 1997 to April 1998.
Friends remembered her as a city pioneer and tireless volunteer for a legion of community organizations, such as the Mayor's Prayer Breakfast Committee, Norwalk Community Coordinating Council, Friends of the Norwalk Libraries, Soroptimist International of Norwalk and the Norwalk Women's Club.
Zimmerman, who owned the Norwalk Travel Center for many years, also served on a variety of governmental advisory boards, including the Los Angeles County Sanitation District and the League of California Cities. Zimmerman, who was born in Oberlin, Ohio, on Dec. 18, 1920, [graduated from Oberlin High School in 1938 and] attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio before moving to Norwalk some 51 years ago. She continued her education at Cerritos and Whittier colleges. She was married to John Zimmerman, a member of Norwalk's first City Council and a former mayor. Her husband died in 1992.
Tony Ayala, the city's community information officer, said a decision hasn't yet been made on how Zimmerman's replacement on the council might be chosen.
Zimmerman is survived by her sister, Midge Bringuel of Rancho Palos Verdes, and two sons, Guy Wesley Zimmerman of Sun Valley and Gary James Zimmerman of Placentia.
Funeral arrangements for Zimmerman will include a viewing at the Chapel of Memories, 12626 S. Woods Ave., Norwalk. Call (562) 863-8731 for details. The funeral will be at 1 p.m. Friday at the Norwalk United Methodist Church, 13200 San Antonio Drive, Norwalk, followed by interment at Little Lake Cemetery, 11959 Lakeland Road, Santa Fe Springs.
The family requests donations to the Zimmerman Schoolhouse in care of the Wood County Park District, 18729 N. Mercer Road, Bowling Green, Ohio 42402.
Long Beach Press-Telegram, Long Beach, Calif., Wednesday, June 17, 1998, p. A4.

Leon Zimmerman
Leon Zimmerman, 65, of Haywood, Va., died in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 10.
He was born and raised in Oberlin [and graduated from Oberlin High School in 1943] before departing the city to enter the military in the early 1940s.
Mr. Zimmerman is survived by his wife, Patricia, four daughters, Becky Lynn Zimmerman of Paconian Springs, Va., Kathryn Z. Golden of Haywood, Janis E. Zimmerman of Toledo, Laura B. Zimmerman of Richmond, Va.; one brother, Dr. John L. Zimmerman of Bellevue; three sisters, Mrs. Paul Sloan of Haughton, Mich., Mrs. Kenneth Gayer of East Calais, Vt., and Mrs. Ralph Mark, of Richmond. Other survivors include a nephew, Richard McDaniel of Oberlin.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Tuesday, April 2, 1991, p. 2.

Lam Trong Zuong died in California
Lam Trong Zuong, 27, was shot and killed Tuesday by a man with whom he had been talking on a San Francisco street. The man, also Vietnamese, escaped.
Zuong came to Oberlin in 1972 [1971] as an American Field Service exchange student and stayed to study at Oberlin College. His family became the first Vietnamese refugees to move to Oberlin; they lived with Doug and Mary Kirtz at 89 Parkwood.
Mrs. Kirtz said Zuong’s family did not know what Lam and the man had been talking about or the reason for the murder.
A native of Hanoi (now Ho Chi Minh City), Zuong was graduated from high school in Vietnam with highest honors. He stayed with the John Spencers when he came here as an AFS student and majored in math and philosophy at OC.
Although his father was a lieutenant colonel in the South Vietnamese army, Zuong was in sympathy with North Vietnam and held strong political views. When he first moved to San Francisco, he had a radio show but was fired for urging on the air that Ho Chi Minh’s birthday be celebrated.
In recent years he headed a non-profit foundation to educate and find jobs for Vietnamese youths, soliciting donations from corporations in the San Francisco area. He had just opened a Vietnamese restaurant called Au Co.
“But he lived in a crummy room in Oakland. Lam did not care about money for himself,” said Mrs. Kirtz.
Members of Zuong’s family who lived with the Kirtzes are brothers Nha, a mechanical engineer for Memorex in Santa Clara now, Lan, also a mechanical engineer, now with Kaiser Electronics in Santa Clara, and Son, who attended Cleveland State University and is now an engineering technician with Western Electric in San Francisco; and sister Nga, supervisor of the payroll department for a San Francisco firm.
Zuong’s father, Lang, was in Oberlin briefly after the family fled from Vietnam just before the fall of Saigon, and is now with Xerox Corp. in Dallas.
Zuong is also survived by a brother Hai in Munich, Germany, and a sister Hang, who with her husband and two children escaped from Vietnam among the boat people and now lives in Santa Clara.
The family name is spelled Duong; Lam changed his name to Zuong in California because that spelling is closer to the correct Vietnamese pronunciation of the name.
Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio, Thursday, July 23, 1981, p. 2.
Lam Trong Duong died July 21, 1981, in San Francisco, shot in the chest at close range by an assailant described as a young Vietnamese man. A group calling itself the Anti-Communist Viets Organization later claimed responsibility for the slaying. Police had few clues although an estimated 50 persons were possible witnesses to the 11:30 a.m. shooting.
Duong, who called himself Zuong in California because that spelling is closer to the correct Vietnamese pronunciation of the name, had been publishing a monthly newsletter sympathetic to North Vietnam and communisim. When he first went to California he had a radio show in San Francisco but was fired for urging on the air that Ho Chi Minh’s birthday be celebrated.
In 1977 he established the federally funded Vietnamese Youth Development Center, a refugee counseling and information agency. He left the center early in 1980 to work full time as a community organizer. Friends at the center said he was no threat to anybody even though he quoted Ho in his newsletter.
Duong was born in Hanoi, June 19, 1954. He came to Oberlin in 1972 as an AFS student [at OHS] and stayed on as a major in math and philosophy at the College [class of 1976]. His family became the first Vietnamese refugees to move to Oberlin.
His father, Lang, was a lieutenant colonel in the South Vietnamese army and is now with Xerox Corp. in Dallas. A brother, Lan, was enrolled at the college for the 1976 fall semester. He now is a mechanical engineer with Kaiser Electronics in Santa Clara. Others who lived in Oberlin are brothers Nha and Son and sister Nga. All are employed in California. Other survivors include brother Hai in Germany and sister Hang in Santa Clara.
The Oberlin Alumni Magazine, Oberlin, Ohio, Autumn 1981, p. 96.