Longtime resident, community volunteer, gardener, land steward
John Zimmer. (Courtesy photo)
John Thomas Zimmer died July 17, 2024. Born in Poughkeepsie, New York, on June 8, 1928, he was the second child of Leonard G. Zimmer Sr., a jeweler, and Victoria M. Slavik, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer. He was the brother of the late Leonard G. Zimmer Jr., and the late Melanee G. Zimmer.
He married Janet M. Wall of Natick in January 1958. They remained happily together for 66 years. He and his family lived on Slough Road in Harvard from 1960 to 2008. Afterward, he and Janet lived nearby in an over-55 community, where their house lights were often the last ones burning at night. In 2023 they moved to Greenville, Rhode Island.
A U.S. Army veteran, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with the help of the GI Bill, then worked 36 years at Raytheon, including important work on millimeter-wave radar systems used for both military and civilian purposes today. In retirement he took a leadership role in the 1990s with the Harvard Historical Society and the Zoning Board of Appeals. He then “retired” from that work to pursue his numerous hobbies, which included flying his Cessna, talking with friends and strangers on amateur radio, extensive gardening, genealogy, and volunteering as a land steward for Littleton’s Oak Hill Conservation land. In retirement, he was never bored; in temperament, he was clear-eyed about life’s challenges but continually optimistic.
One of his more endearing and eccentric qualities was his incessant search for old objects that could be found if one simply looked hard enough for them. To this end, he insisted his family follow his search for semiprecious gemstones and flakes of gold in northern New England woods and streams; Victorian bottles dug in Massachusetts woods; and old coins found with his early metal detector. When he found an 1802 U.S. large cent (from the Thomas Jefferson administration) on Harvard Common in the 1970s, it seemed he had drawn back a magical time curtain that no one else had thought to open.
A patriot all his life, he loved his country and certainly recognized its growing pains, but also its potential. He always believed that the U.S. would remain a beacon of hope and opportunity.
He is survived by his wife, Janet, and their children: John (Peggy) of Westmore, Vermont; Rob (Laurie) of Wickford, Rhode Island; Laura of Westborough; and Maura (Tom) of Pawtuxet Village, Rhode Island. He is also survived by cherished grandchildren Mackenzie, Nicola, Joshua, Matthew, and Jay; and nieces Debbie, Pam, Valerie, and Victoria, as well as nephew Brett.
Two days before his death, an attending nurse asked him if he had had a good life; he responded that he had “a very good life.”
A celebration of this very good life will occur Oct. 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Fruitlands Museum. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Harvard Historical Society, PO Box 542, Harvard MA 01451, or donate online at http://www.harvardhistory.org.
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