Obituary of Margaret L. Zimansky

Margaret Lacy Zimansky, 97, of Iowa City died Tuesday, February 11, 2014, at her home in the Oaknoll Retirement Residence following a stroke. She was born on March 30, 1916, in Dubuque, Iowa, the daughter of Frank Robinson Lacy and Jessie Hammett Lacy. After graduating from St. Katharine's School in Davenport, Iowa, in 1932, she received a B.A. in Latin from Bryn Mawr College in 1937 and an M.A. in English from the University of Iowa in 1941. She taught Latin and English at St. Katharine's between 1937 and 1942. In 1942, she went to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a cryptanalyst for Army Intelligence at Arlington Hall. In 1943, she married Lt. Curt A. Zimansky, a member of the University of Iowa English Department, who was then serving in the Army. At the end of the war they came home to Iowa City, where they raised their four children. After the death of her husband in 1973, she became active in the development of the Willowwind School of Iowa City as a board member and volunteer Latin teacher. She is survived by her four sons, Curt of Davis, Calif., Paul of Stony Brook, N.Y., Robert of Basel, Switzerland, and David of Galveston, Tex.; and two grandsons, Paul Cadden-Zimansky of Rhinebeck, N.Y., and Andrew Zimansky of Geneva, Switzerland. She is also survived by her younger brother, Benjamin Lacy of Cohasset, Mass. She was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, one brother, and her husband. Memorials in memory of Margaret Zimansky may be made to Willowwind School in Iowa City at www.willowwind.org. Online condolences can be sent to her family at www.gayandciha.com. A memorial gathering in honor of Margaret L. Zimansky will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, 2014, at the Willowwind School, 950 Dover Street, Iowa City, Iowa.