Tori Zimmermann and John Zimmermann

00:01 My name is Tori Zimmermann. I am 45 years old today is April 13th. I'm in Atlanta, Georgia, Georgia, and I am interviewing, John Zimmermann. Who is my father.

00:22 Hi, I'm John Zimmermann. I am 75 years. Old. I am in Atlanta, Georgia. On April 13th. There's any my daughter story who lives in Atlanta. I am visiting from Boise, Idaho.

00:43 Pelicans.

00:48 Haida.

00:50 Is there anything you are really wanted me to ask you? No, but I'm sure you'll come up with some interesting actually, my first question, so when we were growing up, you changed religions a lot.

01:12 Yes, you went to a lot of different churches, seeking different religions. And now I think it's even a different one. Then why I wanted you to talk to me about. Okay, well,

01:27 I didn't really change. I changed places to practice religion. But I since I was a young child, I was raised in a very strong Catholic Family, mom and dad in a good sense of Sunday school. First, communion confirmation, all that stuff, but my relationship even since I was little was not with the Catholic church or the pope or any preacher or Pastor or anything else that, I always felt the very close relationship with God since I was little. So

02:16 The searching I was doing wasn't really for a different God. It was for a good place to raise my family and a place that

02:31 Had a basically the truth about God as close as I could say, so we stopped going to a Catholic Church when you guys were little because basically would go to the church and sit in the cry room and just wait for the thing to be over because you guys were you? No moving around and everything. I very normal and I overcame the hang-up of a Catholic saying you couldn't miss Mass on Sunday.

03:00 And then we started going to a Baptist Church. Which again, I wasn't raised Protestant. So it wasn't a big thing of some other denomination. That was a Christian church. We like the pastor at the time and we like the more freedom of the Christian church is opposed to the Catholic church. So I did that. And then we called upon by a Mormon.

03:38 Knock on the door type thing and I'm a very in inquiring person. So I would invite them in and talked about, you know, their beliefs and and their history.

03:50 And I have the time.

03:54 Again, it didn't sound like, it was contrary to Christianity. It sounded like it was, in addition, another part of Christianity. So we talked to them and your mother and I and we

04:10 Eventually start going to the Mormon church and actually got baptized in the Mormon church.

04:16 And,

04:19 Not to be negative here. But again, I'm an inquiring person. And once I did some research and and about the history of the Mormon Church. Let's just say I had my concerns about some of it. So we basically stopped going to the Mormon church. So so I never left my relationship with God. Like I said, I was more interested in, where would be a good place to Foster that relationship for me and my wife and my kids,

04:52 You feel like you found the place now, or would you still have a lot on?

05:04 I don't know. Some people Center their religion around, going to church Sunday and all. That's a big thing. They go to church and I do this and I do that and then the rest of the week, I don't give a crap. Okay, actually, to me Sunday is just a, you know, if I, if we have time or make it before in the right place and everything we go and enjoy the fellowship and enjoy a good message, but it's just part of my experience with God and I do a lot of reading. I listen to a lot of podcasts about hunt very interested in theology. I have one guy who's actually an Anglican, that I really think is

05:52 Smartest and most on top of thing that I've heard and she writes his name. And that's what I'm interested in. I ran into a guy in Kalispell, Montana, believe it or not, and he's a pastor, and we ended up becoming good friends and we would actually get together for about breakfast maybe every other week for 2 hours. And just talk about Theology and relationship with God and he actually has written two books.

06:27 Which are excellent anyway.

06:39 We both basically love the Lord, and

06:44 As we get older, we become closer and closer with our relationship with God and less, and less enamored with any particular religion that they prey on.

07:00 Does that surprise you at all?

07:06 I mean, I just

07:10 I know, I know that you.

07:14 Have you guys in your former formulas of years going to a Baptist Church? And I know that you were taught some things that you have, certainly come to realize we're not truth and I'm very sorry about that. I never went to the youth.

07:40 Anyway, I hope that again, we all mature and grow and I hope the same thing.

07:50 You're I like if you don't know very small local church right now and and

07:57 I really like what they're doing locally and it says, I like your husband has a very old-fashioned view of religion play. He likes the

08:14 I say old-fashioned. Anyway, I appreciate that. So, you know, millions of different paths to get to him. So I'm have I'm just glad that you're you and your family are being taught about, you know, some history in about Christ was what he did and what he taught which lost in today's political environment.

08:47 So, how do you think when you were a child versus right now?

08:54 How do you?

08:57 Be our lives are kids lives being so different from your life. But just to give you an idea. I'll tell you what, I was like, and then you can relate it to the 50s on Long Island, New York, small brick, Cape Cod house. My dad bought it for $12,000 30 year mortgage at 3%.

09:35 Remember When?

09:45 He then finish the upstairs himself, two bedrooms, and a bath upstairs, and then built the garage himself.

09:54 So my brother and I upstairs were in one room by two sisters were across the hall in the other room and we shared a you've been there and we shared a bathroom upstairs four of us. Never thought anything of it.

10:06 And the one-bedroom downstairs my parents.

10:10 And,

10:12 So we would do if I was just type in the summer time. I mean we get up and have some breakfast and go outside. And in that time frame, it was families just like us. So I had about eight guys, eight total that we are as we hung around with every day. We just went out in the morning played rode, our bikes, where ever explored, every sport you could conceive of in the street. Stickball, football touch football.

10:49 Baseball softball.

10:52 And and then around dinner time, we came home and ate. We had a

10:59 We had a TV that was about 18in by 18in. That have three channels, black and white, and we didn't really care. We had a few shows that we probably, like, never watched it during the day, watch the baseball, the Yankees Dodgers and Giants were all on TV, in New York at the time. No football. No. No. Any other sports.

11:26 And,

11:28 There was no concern about crime or anything happening to the kids or, you know, we ride our bikes and go to the woods which person I was all houses. But at the time it was fun would get bring a peashooter and pick peas off the tree. And you know, if you got shot with the key here and ride home.

12:03 And I ever get in trouble. Where is trouble? Unlike my brother, your uncle, Leo. I think me and my sisters really were not. I was kind of the bottle kids, be honest with you. I got into.

12:26 Was in high school.

12:29 The day before, one of our football games. I was we had a pretty good football team and a big private school. So this that girl local girl from a high school. Wanted to send it. You wanted to interview me for an article in the paper.

12:48 So, I ended up talking with her, and it got to be pretty late and my dad. I believe all the police, cuz I thought I was missing and I finally came home. He was a gas and I was out at the game, whatever. I mean he freaked out and

13:16 That's probably the most trouble I ever got it.

13:22 Believe it or not. What did he do?

13:26 I just chewed me out physically. And then another time I can't. My dad was a wonderful father. So another time we had this car family car that I drove once I was of age and it was a stick shift old Chevy. Today is a classic a 5058 Chevy. Okay.

13:50 Anyway.

13:51 So,

13:54 I drove it.

13:57 And it was icy and I was going up a hill.

14:02 And I kept running it. Donning it gunning, it to get up. This hill. Couldn't get up the hill and finally.

14:11 One another way and went home, and

14:14 I got the next morning got up and said, hey John, there's a pilot. There's a a pool of oil under the engine. Anyway, I blew the engine on our family car.

14:31 Quite frankly. I never got in big trouble for it. You know, it was something that happened and then my dad was an engineer, you work. For one companies whole life. He was World War II and during World War II and was in training, when the war in Air Force. So he never left the country.

14:59 He was a wonderful father, you made all all of my sporting events growing up somehow, even during the week, you know.

15:10 He did very well. You can work. 15 minutes away and he turned down promotions where he would have to drive a lot longer always came home. You could set your watch and be home by 5:15 at night for dinner and never worked a day in her life, other than us.

15:33 And I was an old-fashioned marriage. She

15:39 Worship.

15:42 My dad worship my mother and she treated him like a king so that your work right? I am in all my years. I only remember them even once and it lasted for a minute.

16:00 Hey, we used to go visit. I mean I even remember it. So we used to go visit her sister. My mother and periodically would take the whole family Sunday afternoon and go visit her and of course.

16:17 You can probably imagine she's a non so if we sit there and you know much to talk about or anything else and I guess we were complaining one day and my

16:30 My dad snapped at my mom and said, you know, you can't blame a cat if they had this agreement. It certainly was never in front of us.

16:49 I I told you this and if you ever saw Father Knows Best or leave it to if you saw it, Leave it to Beaver, old trail of the fifties and sixties. We literally, I was Wally the older brother. My brother was the beaver. My father was Ward Cleaver and my mother was June Cleaver, and I thought every family was like that growing up.

17:19 And looking back. I realize that not only not the case in our neighborhood, but obviously not the case symbol.

17:31 I won the parent Lottery People.

17:37 Do you do when you were, when we are growing up? I always felt like you never got two when Mom left and you had, you are a single father. You never got to have the job you wanted.

17:52 Well, ironically.

17:55 My dad was an engineer. So, you know, I went to a very good high school private high school.

18:06 And,

18:08 Business in high school was typing. Okay, so when I went to college and I went to Notre Dame, which I'm sure is my dad's dream to have his son, go to Notre Dame.

18:22 And my dad.

18:25 Again, listen, very good with money. He had our money put away for college, for us, the boys and the girls went to Teachers College in the state.

18:38 What was the money obviously them today, but may be relatively same. I don't know. But anyway, so I went and Engineering started college and engineering, and quickly found out that I wasn't cut out to be a math, chemistry and calculus chemistry and physics was very heavy for me and I wasn't the only one in Notre Dame. They had a very small graduating class and I switch to business.

19:04 And the immediately made the Dean's List, and

19:08 I never really could say, this is what I want to be, you know, never ever had that where, you know, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. So I graduated in college. I did. Now I want to get a master's degree.

19:24 Because I didn't want to be left behind working for a big company not having an advanced degree. So and at the time this was during the 60s which were

19:35 I thought we're worse than that now, until covid. But, I mean, in the sixties, you have the sassa Nations, you had Vietnam, you had the sexual Revolution, the drug Revolution, all of this took place in the 60s.

19:52 So, I went to a Catholic college and rather than get drafted. I went into ROTC and when the Army and fortunately as a finance officer not as a

20:05 Artillery or crown guy and ended up instead of going to Vietnam. I went to Turkey and a great Duty. Got the travel through Europe, came back. And I knew I Met Your Mother at the in the last six months of Mike tour in Chicago. We got married and

20:28 I just, I knew that if I didn't go to graduate school right away. I've never go. So I went to graduate school. While we are married, John being born, and then my first job and I didn't want to, I didn't like New York City. I wanted to get to a place other than New York.

20:50 I wanted to go to the Denver or California because I had heard such good things about them.

20:58 And the job market was extremely tough getting out of graduate school.

21:03 So I for some reason interview with Ford Motor Company.

21:08 And lo and behold the guy interviewing me. I played basketball with in high school.

21:19 And I said, he said let's cut through the BS here. What would you like to do? And I said, well, I'd really like to get to either Denver or California cuz I can't get you to California, but I can probably get you to dinner.

21:32 And sure enough. I was able to get a job in Denver, which I was the only one to get away from the New York and the family there and all that stuff. We ended up moving to Denver, which was a wonderful City. Then and now and we ended up having you guys New York, if it was so good at process, was if I work for a big company, which is what you're going to graduate school. I didn't want to get with a company that was headquartered in New York City because I hate a New York system because it was at the time, it wasn't like it is now it was dirty. I'm

22:19 Subways are covered with graffiti. I mean, it was the Times Square. When was prostitution an x-rated movie theaters? For me. It wasn't a place. I want to be widened Denver.

22:41 I visited it for an interview and I will tell you this.

22:53 And on this one of the Billboards, I was thinking about, you know, where am I going to end up? Where am I going to go? And I look up on the billboard billboard about Colorado, tell me something. So I got an interview with Colorado, on top of this at the time.

23:14 Call the top of the Rockies. It was a restaurant on the at the time at the highest building in a rotated around. But I went up there after my interview and I'm praying quite frankly, Anoka board. Is this the place we need to go and I look out, look into the mountains. And what do you think? I see?

23:37 That cross in the foothills.

23:45 How to spell this is where I was going to be in sure enough. I ended up in Denver Colorado on a calls. That's how we ended up. And, how long did you know Mom before you guys got married?

24:16 For how long did you know, officer in the in accounting departments, and she was a civilian?

24:24 Worker in the office.

24:26 While I was there, six months, so I knew her for 6 months.

24:33 Yes.

24:37 Jeff.

24:45 Let's just say John arrived. Three months after we got married. That's right. The perfect son.

25:03 So anyway, so yes, we got we got married and

25:15 Six months, you know, wasn't long time by any stretch, but we got married in New York and we stayed in Manhattan and she worked for the phone company or as long as she could until 8 month or whenever.

25:42 And I went to school and we took a loan school loan was able to pay for it and

25:52 If I had save some money in the Army too much anyway, so we went from

25:59 Graduating to write the Denver and started.

26:03 Working and actually ironically front a friend of your mother's Tim Lange, Tim Joyce and the two daughters. Will you grew up with they ended up in Denver too and we live right next to each other in Aurora in the department initially.

26:20 Like, when you were born, we are in the house wearing.

26:25 But anyway, we started out in an apartment in Aurora and then we bought a house.

26:30 So our first house which was really nice house. Actually, tri-level. I think we bought it for $35,000. How is the hardest part of being married to Mom?

26:50 Hardest part of being married to your mother, was it? We neither one of us was in any way ready to get married?

26:58 She was young and

27:02 She was a a raised as a princess or your grandpa and she was the only daughter.

27:11 And she got a Triumph convert. The first Triumph, convertible in Chicago on her 16th birthday, as birthday present.

27:21 I was raised by Leave it to Beaver family. So,

27:29 You know, I was I was distinctly in a middle upper middle. Her dad was a antreprenor, they built his house. So your mother had a much different. Well, you know what your mother is like.

27:46 Heard definition.

27:58 So anyway, years and

28:06 I think when your mother left.

28:11 It wasn't meant to be permanent. I think she just wanted this. Get out for a while and you know, take a breath and, you know, we turned into a month.

28:22 2 months, 6 months and

28:25 So, I was home with you and the kids and

28:29 I have to go and I was selling on commission.

28:36 Again, like it was it was not easy either. I took a second on the house to split up, get your mother out, you know, our car pay off all our credit cards, so I had to mortgage payments and I hired a nanny.

28:54 I had two mortgage payments on a 90 and three kids.

29:04 As you may or may not remember you were three while you were three at the time. So you wouldn't remember.

29:14 I don't think, you know, I know that you probably know John was very

29:23 Divorced, his reaction was anger, used to feature called and said, hey, your son's getting them.

29:29 Fights at school. Once I explained what was happening.

29:38 And then Tiffany's teacher called and said, your your daughter who at the time, was what?

29:45 Six kindergarten.

29:49 Had your daughter. And now she's always so upbeat and happy and she's been very sad lately.

29:58 Through a separation.

30:00 Anyway, everybody had a different reaction. I don't.

30:04 I don't think you had a reaction. You were probably you were young. I don't know if you has been affected you.

30:15 Married, eight years.

30:17 Well.

30:19 We can keep talking about this, but it was very clear When We Were Young, but you made a lot of sacrifices to raise three kids single for a long time.

30:32 It's not like you would have, maybe.

30:36 You always had to do your job. Not that we ever knew necessarily, but now looking back, you always stuck with what your job for your family is close to.

30:50 Looking for other kinds of jobs that you might have liked better.

30:56 Well, this is sad. I really like this concept really appreciate the interview and appreciate you setting this up here. And I I don't know if that when is you expected it to?