Eileen Ziegenfus' Obituary
Eileen had a very strong and active life for 86 years...she was born and raised in a coal mining town in Pennsylvania since her Dad worked in the mines...her family later moved to New Jersey...beginning in Passaic and ending up in Clifton...she divorced in 1954 and raised two kids as a single Mom working in an aircraft plant during World War II and later as a telephone operator....
Eileen kept improving her life at all times...she got her Bachelors degree and taught school...while working full time and raising kids she went on to get her Masters from Columbia and Doctorate from Nova...speech therapy was her passion...all the while she had an office at home seeing kids privately who were in need of therapy, many with traumatic speech impediments....
Many who knew her wondered how she could be so calm and patient in times of crisis...she had no choice...she had a number of heart attacks beginning in 1964 at 41...the doctors told her she had to be calm at all times...from then on she never lost her temper or got upset...I cannot recall a time prior where she lost it anyway so this was not hard for her to accomplish....
Eileen married two more times...in 1964 she married Jack Linehan, an FBI agent and lawyer...he passed in 1978...then, in 1984 she married Mel Ziegenfus, the retired president of Southeast bank in central Florida...Mel passed in 1995...
She eventually retired and moved to sunny Florida...so she thought...Mom got involved with Seminole County Community College...she was asked to and developed their first speech pathology program and did so over a number of years...so much for retirement...
Mom finally had enough and completely retired...she got involved in a number of volunteer issues...she was on the local board of ACT, an organization that helps handicapped seniors....she was heavily involved with her church including running the church office volunteers for a number of years...she was active with the meals on wheels program for shut in's...she played bridge twice a week and was a voracious reader going through at least two books a week until she died...
Mom was always an animal lover and had many pets during her life...the last one to grace her presence was her beloved Brandy, a beige cocker spaniel that had been rescued....the vet said Brandy only had a couple of years left but Mom cared so well for Brandy she lived 12 more years...
Mom was active until very recently...she drove herself wherever she needed to go and went out somewhere everyday...Mom had a full and rewarding career and personal life and helped more people than we will ever know...Mom was known for being a gracious host with a knack for putting people at ease and having a wonderful time...She was also known for her beauty and impeccable taste through all her years.
Eileen is survived by sons, Daniel, John and Pamela Warren...four loving grandchildren, Scott, Nicole and Cori Warren and Melissa Ranlett as well as three great grandchildren, Luke and Isabelle Warren and Milo Ranlett....
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