JOHN M ZIMBRO

Leominster, MA, John M Zimbro

Zimbro died-January 29, 2025
If it were up to our Dad, that is what his obituary would have said.  

He grew up in Fall River, MA and was a man of few words. He loved to tell stories of his childhood; fishing with his dad on his boat “Lady Pat”, and playing baseball with the “boys”.  During his best baseball season, he hit 6 grand slams.  Unbeknownst to his children until later in life, he had tried out for the Chicago White Sox.  He graduated from Durfee High School (class of 1960). From there he joined the army at 17, did basic training at Fort Dix and was stationed at Fort Belvoir and later Munich, Germany.  He was a part of the 24th infantry; a specialist 5th class.  He was a high speed morse code operator, demolition expert and sharpshooter.  

He had a bit of a wild spirit.  He jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 58. The two stories we would hear most often were when he was in the army (Germany) and spent the night drinking at the Hofbräuhaus, took a cab, got very ill in the cab....the cab driver threw him out, the army drunk bus picked him up and he had KP duty for a week.  The other story was him and his good friend Stan driving 105 mph through the Mount Hope Bridge toll booth (on a dare)!  

He attended Bryant University and worked at Raytheon's Submarine Signal Division in Portsmouth, RI,  for 40 years.  He was in awe when both his grandchildren were born.  All his life he was a golfer.  He hit 4 hole-in-ones (1 in his 70s) and watched his son sink one also.  In the later years of his life, he spent time living in Williamsburg, VA and then Leominster, MA. He loved to read, play chess, travel, play billiards… He loved dogs and had many throughout his life.  Magic, his German Shepherd being his favorite, until he met Rozemary, the sassy cockapoo.  She STOLE his heart!

He is survived by his 3 children: Anne Mahan (steadfast), Shelly Zimbro (his middle child and partner in “crime”) and Adam Zimbro (his “boy”).  He also is survived by his sister, Deborah, son-in-law John and granddaughters, Abbey and Cate.  He dearly missed the people who passed before him, especially his grandmother, Dad, Mom and best friend Stan.   Dad requested a private burial service. 

The family would like to express gratitude to the medical staff at UMass Memorial Medical Center University Campus, particularly Dr. Stephen Anders and the staff at UMass Memorial Health Alliance during Dad's final days.  Special thanks to his primary care physician, Dr. Daniel O'Leary and his office team; especially Robin and to Chaplain Cathy Pimley for the loving pastoral care provided.

The Curley Marchand Funeral Home, Leominster, MA is managing funeral arrangements.  https://www.curleymarchand.com/

The family kindly requests that memorial contributions be made to the American Heart Association in John's honor.  www.heart.org

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of JOHN M ZIMBRO, please visit our floral store.