Mary Meeker Zoller, 94, of Muscatine, passed away on Thursday, June 23, 2022, at Lutheran Living Senior Campus.
A funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, at the Trinity Episcopal Church. Burial will be in Cranston Cemetery, where she will be the fourth generation of her family to be buried there.
Visitation will be from 10 until 12 p.m. on Wednesday, June 29, 2022, at the Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home. Online condolences: www.wittichfuneralhome.com. Memorials may be made to Trinity Episcopal Church.
Mary Meeker Zoller was born on February 9, 1928, in Lone Tree, Iowa, the daughter of Harry Cone and Mabel Page Meeker. In 1930, the family moved to Muscatine where her father had taken a job as custodian at the Muscatine County Courthouse. The work included residency in the old Heritage Jail, and she was always proud to have spent 19 years as part of the home’s history. She graduated from Muscatine High School in 1946 where she had been assistant editor of the Auroran Yearbook in her junior year and editor in her senior year.
On May 9, 1947, she was united in marriage to Robert Zoller at the First Presbyterian Church in Muscatine. The Reverend Joseph Kennedy officiated. To this union, three children were born. Warren Jacob, Diane C., and Kay E.
After marriage, Mary became a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Muscatine where she spent the rest of her years in many capacities. Her favorite being in Altar Guild when she worked with the preservation of their heritage textiles.
She was employed at the Helen Bamford Photography Studio for almost 20 years and was also an avid genealogist and family historian. Through genealogy, she learned about spinning and weaving and it was through these interests that she made hundreds of new friends and was published in both fibers and genealogy. She taught the fibers throughout Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Muscatine Community College’s Adult Education Program. She founded the Muscatine Spin In through the MCC and continued it for 18 years.
In 1982, she was joined in her business by her husband, Bob, and daughter, Kay, weaving and producing one-of-a-kind and limited-edition ladies’ garments. She sold her fashions under the name Fibers for All Seasons in Muscatine’s Artists in Action shop, a shop of her own for two years in Kalona, Iowa, the Chicago area, and Amish Acres in Indiana, winning many blue ribbons for Best of Show in fibers at juried art shows. She was a founding member of Artists in Action and a board member there from 1974 to 1988. In her retirement years, she enjoyed quilting, her gardens, and grandchildren. Also traveling with Bob and children and later, grandchildren.
Her memberships have included Handweavers Guild of America, Midwest Spinners and Weavers, Valley Spinners and Weavers, Lady Elks, Questers, Garden Club, and Daughters of the American Revolution. She was most proud of her lifetime association and a member of her Muscatine High School classes. Especially the 46’ers. Also, her friends at Sunnybrook Assisted Living.
She is survived by her children: Warren Jacob (Debby) Zoller and Kay (Chris) Wagler, five grandchildren: Beth Zoller, Jacob (Jessica) Zoller, David Zoller, Michelle (Nathan) Boss, and Matthew (Morgan) Wagler, eight great grandchildren: Bo, Abigail, Danielle, Mia, Reagan, Julian, Natalie, Nora, Kenna, and new baby expected today, and two nieces.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Bob in 2010, daughter Diane in 2011, and sister Nora.
