Barbara Zimmerman Podesta | 1915–2015

Barbara Zimmerman Podesta

February, 1915–December, 2015

by Barbara Meyer 
Always up for an adventure, my mother headed west with a fellow nursing school graduate, driving an automobile to a Portland dealership in the late-1930s.  Two cousins had sent glowing reports of the mountains and Mom couldn’t resist.  She found the Mazamas in 1940, met my father there (Adolph “Zim” Zimmerman) and began a life of hiking, skiing, camping and backpacking.  I have an August 11, 1940 photo of Mom and two other women on the summit of Mt. Hood with the lookout in the background. Her Summit Certificate indicates the leaders were J. Ed Nelson and Eldon Metzger.  My parents served on the Lodge Committee of the old log lodge in Government Camp.  Activities at the lodge and the Annual Outings became a way of life for several years.  More recently she set her skills to work on the braided rug visible in the Winter 2015 Mazama Lodge postcard.

After my father passed away, Mom moved back to Michigan, her birth state, to care for her aging parents.  Shortly after she returned to Washington, she met and married Joe Podesta, moving to his 60 acre farm.  Originally a dairy, by then he was raising beef cattle.  Having spent many of her childhood years on acreages, Mom readily took to farm life and driving the tractor while Joe loaded hay bales onto the wagon to store in the massive hay loft of the dairy barn.  Joe tended a huge garden every year and this is where I first tasted pesto prepared with fresh garlic and basil and served with pasta and green beans.  It was the best pesto I’ve ever eaten!  The family marble mortar and wooden pestle are now prized possessions.  Unfortunately, Joe’s pesto making skill was lost when he died in 1993 and I cannot replicate it.  In October, 2015, the Podesta Farm was awarded Heritage status by the State of Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.  During their years together, Mom and Joe enjoyed traveling to Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Europe.

Mom and I continued adventuring in my VW camper and later enjoyed the luxury of motels.  When Peter and I married, we included her in a vacation each year, generally staying in Washington and Oregon.  The coast, mountains and Columbia River Gorge were the big draws.  Mom was an avid reader, participating in a book group as well as a writing group.  She also loved music and attending concerts.  She had an inquisitive mind and if she read or heard about an event or place, she was ready to go check it out!

The final adventure began late in 2015 when cancer of the peritoneum was diagnosed.  With the help of Hospice, Peter and I cared for Mom in her home until the end just 11 weeks before her 101st birthday.  What a long and full life!  Thank you, Mom, for bringing me up in the Mazama family and setting the stage for my own many adventures!

Barbara Zimmerman Meyer, daughter and Mazama since 1959