Robert Zimmerman Obituary

Robert Henry Zimmerman

Services for Robert Henry Zimmerman, 91, Lawrence will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, January 3, 2015 at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence, with Father Pat Riley officiating. Private family inurnment will follow at a later date.

Mr. Zimmerman died Sunday, December 28, 2014, at Medicalodges of Eudora. He was born May 27, 1923, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, the son of William and Adelia Zimmerman.

Mr. Zimmerman graduated from Eudora High School in 1941. He then worked for the Boeing Company in Wichita for two years. He served from April 1944 to May 1946 in World War II as a private first class in the Army Air Corps. After the war, he attended the University of Kansas for two years.

He and Barbara Bright were married on December 27, 1947, in Lawrence. She preceded him in death in May 2012.

In 1946, Mr. Zimmerman and his brother, Lee, opened Zimmerman Hardware, which later became Coast to Coast Hardware, at 19th and Massachusetts streets. After Lee opened Zimmerman Steel Company, Bob and Barbara Zimmerman operated the hardware store, which they retired from in 1992.

Mr. Zimmerman was a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, the American Legion, and was the oldest member of the Lawrence Lions Club, which he joined in 1946, the year it was chartered. In addition, Mr. Zimmerman had been active in the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and had served on the city board of zoning appeals. He was co-chairman of the Lawrence Bicentennial Committee. And he was a member of the Lawrence Tennis Association and organized the Lawrence Open for many years. Mr. Zimmerman qualified in tennis for three national Senior Olympics.

Survivors include his son and daughter-in-law, Alan Zimmerman and Caroline Trowbridge, Lawrence; his granddaughter, Sarah Zimmerman, Lawrence; his brother, H. Lee Zimmerman, Lake Dabinawa; and two sisters, Kathryn Heylman, Spokane, Wash., and Carolyn Engelken, Denver.

The family will receive friends from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday, January 2, 2015 at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Douglas County Visiting Nurses/Hospice or Lawrence Memorial Hospital Endowment Association for renovation of the rehabilitation units on the Fourth Floor and may be sent in care of the mortuary.

Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com.

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