THE DONNA ZIMMERMAN MEMORIAL ENDOWMENT

“You can’t sum up someone’s life in words.” My younger brother, Tyler, said it best. How could I capture all that our mom, Donna, was in this world? Cancer took her prematurely in December 2021. Sure, it’d be easy to focus on her death and our ensuing grief. But I’d rather talk about how she lived.

Mom’s love language? Quality time. She cherished and prioritised one-on-one time with each of us boys. We talked about everything - big and small. “What do you want your legacy to be, mom?”

I (erroneously) thought she grappled with the concept. After all, she didn’t necessarily aspire to having gardens, plaques, or scholarships bearing her name. Instead, she yearned that her life and witness would bring others closer to God, especially during her cancer journey. She didn’t spend time talking about what she had accomplished in life; she preferred to focus on our faith and what was to come. Now that’s a legacy. Future-focused and faith-focused. And that’s what made knowing mom so special.

Because of this, there were certain unwritten “rules” growing up in the Zimmerman household. For example, you could not leave for the day without a blessing from mom over your head (Numbers 6:24). You always had a handwritten note in the lunchbox with a prayer or words of inspiration. (My youngest brother, Nelson, admirably saved all 600+ of his from his Gibbons years and keeps them to this day.) No meat on Fridays during Lent (often those lunchbox notes had to “remind” us - ha!) And, most importantly, you were to grow up with a Catholic education. After we visited our first open house nearly 20 years ago, there was no question in mom’s mind. “You and your brothers are going to Gibbons, Michael.” And the rest was history.

Our Gibbons experience was intertwined with all that mom loved and embodied. Faith. Joy. Learning. Challenges. Leadership. The list goes on. She found her energy and life in people, whether it be through her volunteer work at school or on the sidelines cheering loudly at our countless soccer games. She lived a life exemplified by an endless generosity of time, talents, and treasure marked by the love she showed to others and instilled in their hearts.

Thus, the inspiration for the Donna Zimmerman Memorial Endowment. My father and I endowed this fund to carry on mom’s legacy - but in a way that we hope will be meaningful and consequential. Future-focused and faith-focused. The aim is to help deserving students with tuition assistance so that they (and their parents) can enjoy the benefits of Gibbons in ways that mom valued most - and then go out and make the world a better place. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my father. The driver behind this fund and the rock for our family, we would be nowhere without him.

Tyler is right. I can’t begin to encapsulate all that mom was in words alone. But I hope this is one small step in the right direction: for her legacy and the future of Gibbons.

-Michael W. Zimmerman Jr, ’09