Norma “Jane” (Prince) Zimmer

STANFORD, Mont. – Norma “Jane” (Prince) Zimmer was born on Dec. 6, 1950, to Katherine (Farmer) and Rufus Prince. She spent an idyllic childhood on an apple orchard in Turner, Maine and graduated from Leavitt High School.

Norma attended Washington College in Chestertown, Md. for three years, then took a year off to explore possibilities and work at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Mass. She transferred to the University of Maine where she earned a degree in Philosophy.

After graduation, she did what one does with a degree in Philosophy, she drove a taxi in Maine which was a job she loved. She then embarked on a journey which eventually led her to Wrangell, Alaska where she met her future husband, Allen Zimmer. They were married in Wrangell in 1976 and lived there until after Rebekah and Ethan were born, and then they moved to Allen’s childhood community of Benchland, Mont. in 1979. There, they farmed and ranched for the remainder of her life.

Norma was essentially a farmer/rancher but also maintained an active community life. She led a Brownie Girl Scout troop for seven years and belonged to the Benchland Community and Women’s Clubs until they quietly faded away. She served on the Stanford School Board, the FSA County Committee, the County Library Board, the County Tax Appeal Board, the Judith Basin Endowment Foundation, and the Judith Arts Society Board. In 2007, she began working as Assistant Librarian at the Judith Basin County Free Library and looked forward to every day she spent at that wonderful place with co-worker, sister, and friend, Jeanne Lilligard.

Included among her pastimes were reading, listening to music, hooking and braiding rugs, taking road trips, refinishing furniture, adopting chairs, weeding her perennials, and vacuuming pet hair. She abhorred arrogance, ignorance, greed, housework, and greasing the swather. She loved her family, friends, pets, flowers, her home, and the earth.

Norma is survived by her husband, Allen Zimmer; children, Rebekah (Phil Zarecor), and Ethan; brothers, Don (Jeanne) Prince of Turner, Hal (Sandy) Prince of Clermont, Fla., sister-by-choice-not-birth, Connie Hersey of Lewiston, and all of her amazing offspring, sisters-by-marriage, Crystal (Doug) Winter, Susan (Mark) Gilkey, Karen (Roy) Imamura and their families. We would be remiss not to mention special cousins, Sheila Leavitt and Judy Reed; and some really wonderful friends, including, but not limited to, nurse-extraordinaire, Karen Reilly.

A memorial service will be held at Calvary Community Church in Stanford on Saturday, June 25, 2022, at 11 a.m.

Memorials, however unnecessary, may be sent to:

Stanford Library Guild

PO Box 486

Stanford, MT 59479 or

the charity of your choice