John Ray Zimmerle, 84, of Killen, Alabama, passed away peacefully Friday, Oct. 23, 2015, at Mitchell-Hollingsworth Rehab after a brief illness.
John was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 24, 1931, the oldest of seven children of John L. and Bertie Reeves Zimmerle. The parents moved the family back to their native West Tennessee after the Great Depression closed the father's Chicago cosmetics business.
A 1950 Lexington High School graduate, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in South Carolina from 1951-1953, where he attained the rank of corporal.
In 1955 he married Jeanette Garrett from Kilmichael, Miss., whom he met in Memphis, Tenn. where he pursued a variety of jobs, one at Dixie Wax Paper Company making $1.25 an hour, before going to college on the G.I. bill.
Earning a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee in 1958, he began his engineering career at Sperry Farragut in Johnson City, Tenn. as part of a team designing components of the Jupiter and Redstone rockets. He joined International Harvester in Memphis in 1959, designing farm equipment, hay balers, cotton pickers, and testing them in the field, resulting in a production of 10,000 units. In November 1963, he took a job with Teledyne-Brown Engineering, and he and his young family became part of the population boom of Huntsville, Alabama's space race, when families were moving to Huntsville at the rate of three a day over an eighteen-month period.
He was on a team of engineers that designed the swinging arm support of the Saturn V rocket. He earned a 25-year certificate from Teledyne-Brown, retiring in 2000.
A good man with a gentle spirit and diligent work ethic, he had simple tastes and hobbies. He was most content working on his farm near Fayetteville, Tenn. He grew a tobacco crop one year, fed and tended ponies and burros, built fences, raised cattle and named them all. The family eventually moved to the farm as he commuted to Huntsville and later Decatur.
While a member of Lakewood Baptist Church in Huntsville, he taught young men's Royal Ambassadors. His Bible noted that he accepted Christ at age 17. His fervent prayer at each meal in the home was a constant in our lives.
John and his first wife Jeanette had five daughters who survive them: Betty (David) Smith, Killen; Susan Jester, Huntsville; Sandra (Kenneth) Day, Madison, Ala., Teresa Zimmerle, Killen (his loving caregiver); and Jennifer (Wes) Richardson, Muscle Shoals. He leaves nine grandchildren: Mindy, Carrah, Sara, Christina, Jessica, Andrew, Abby, Jack & C. J., and ten great-grandchildren. Also surviving him are: sister, Roberta Zimmerle of Davenport, Fla., brothers Frederic (Peggy) Zimmerle of Lexington, Tenn., Paul (Mitzi) Zimmerle of Wood Dale, IL, James (Joan) Zimmerle of Medinah, IL, and Thomas (Dawn) Zimmerle of Orland Park, IL; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to his parents, he is predeceased by his second wife, Robin Scott Zimmerle; a sister, Barbara Z. Segerson of Pinson, Tenn.; and great-granddaughter Zoe B. Parker of Killen.
Visitation with the family will be at Elkins East Chapel, Killen, Ala., from 6-8 pm Tues., Oct. 27. Services will be at Elkins East Chapel at 1 pm Wed., Oct. 28, with Pastor David McKelvey officiating. Burial will follow at First Baptist Church Killen Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Jude Children's Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.