Josephine "Jo"
Zimmerman
"Woman Pioneer in Journalism"
Josephine Seaton Zimmerman passed away of natural causes on July 17, 2010 in Salt Lake City. Jo, as friends called her, was born November 5, 1921 to Catherine and Joshua Seaton in Bellingham, Washington. The family later moved to Price, Utah when her father, a loved and trusted companion to Jo, became a foreman at the Sweet Mine. Jo described her earliest memory as "being too small to see what was on top of the table and being frus-trated". This curiosity continued. Jo always wanted to see what was on the "top of the table" of life that wasn't so easily visible.
Jo spent her life learning. She first learned to love flowers from walks in the mountains with her father. She became a master gardener. She was one of the first graduates of Carbon College and then went on to graduate from Brigham Young University with a degree in Journalism. Her journalism career started at the Salt Lake Tribune followed by eight years working for the Lehi Free Press as the first person with "professional" writing experience. She then spent three decades at the Provo Daily Herald and "very reluctantly" retired at age 80. Her work at the Herald involved a government report including such assignments as water and mental health issues, a regular garden column, and editorials features. In 2006, Jo received the Pioneer in Journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Jo was a woman pioneer in many ways. Besides her love of gardening, she juggled her professional life with family and a spiritual life. She married Cecil James Zimmerman on June 20, 1946. They had four children Kurt (Judith), Elise, April (Larry), and Peter, and five grandchildren (James, Sara, Lyndy, Bryce, and Kailee). She was a ruling elder and a member of the Rocky Mountain Synod justice committee for the Presbyterian Church. She was invited by Governor Leavitt to give a prayer at the rededication of This is the Place Monument.
A Vesper's Memorial Service will be held at Wasatch Presbyterian Church, 1626 South 1700 East, on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. Our sincerest thanks to the many excellent staff of Brighton Gardens and Federal Heights Care Center for their loving care of our mother and friend. Next time you plant a flower or tree, want to see the "top of the table", or pioneer a new idea, think of Jo.