Elsa "Gay" Zimmerman

Elsa "Gay" Zimmerman, 83, of Aberdeen, SD, a devoted wife and mother, passed away peacefully on December 31, 2024, with her daughter and son-in-law by her side.

Gay’s wishes were to be cremated and no formal services will be held.

Interment will be at Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Jamestown, ND, at a later date.

Schriver’s Memorial Mortuary and Crematory, 414 5th Avenue NW, Aberdeen, is in charge of arrangements. Family and friends may sign the online guestbook at www.schriversmemorial.com.

Gay was born August 16, 1941, on a farm where she grew up in Fullerton, California to James and Addie Belle (Shepard) Kirker. Her career working for American Airlines as a teletype operator eventually took her to Chicago where, in the lobby of the Y.W.C.A., she met her soon-to-be husband, Quentin Zimmerman, a Gackle, ND native who was attending Optometry school there. After their marriage, they moved to Jamestown, ND, where she worked briefly until her first child, Monica, was born. She became a homemaker and eventually welcomed two more children, Michelle and James.

In her younger years in California, she was a member of one of the oldest California horse riding clubs, the El Rodeo Riding Club (nka the El Rodeo Equestrian Center), where she won many ribbons riding and showing her horses, Sugar Bell and Tinker Toy. Later, as a member of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Jamestown, Gay enjoyed being active in the church choir and Sojourner’s Circle. In retirement, Gay and Quentin loved traveling the US in their motorhome with all of their beloved dogs they had over the years and never missed their annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and DaLayne Musland of Edgeley, ND; five grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews; and a sister, Joyce.

She was preceded in death by her parents, James and Addie; sister, Shirley; son, James; daughter, Monica; and husband, Quentin.

Her family wishes to thank the staff of Bethesda Home of Aberdeen for the loving care they showed Gay during her time there.