Avril Zelda Zimmerman

Avril Zimmerman (AKA Mum, Grandma, and GiGi) was born in 1935 in Clapton—a district of East London, England—to Charles Mirovitch and Sarah Mintz, known as Charlie and Sadie Charles. Their three children—Avril, Gerald, and Frank—were all known with the last name Charles. The adoption of an Anglo-sounding name was common for Jewish families hoping to avoid anti-Semitism in their school and work-lives.

Mum was nearly four years old when World War II broke out in 1939 and almost five when the London Blitz began in 1940. The Charles family stayed in London throughout the War, hiding in an underground shelter in the backyard during the air raids. In her last years, Mum would say that memories of this time were especially vivid for her, although they seemed “normal” rather than traumatic.

Mum was educated at the John Howard School in Clapton, a girl’s academy affectionately known as “Laura Place.” An avid reader, she came to love the novels of Jane Austin, which she re-read throughout her life. She also developed a voracious appetite for detective fiction. She passed on this love of reading to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchild. She also studied the French language at Laura Place and was able to use it when traveling in France in later years. Another skill she acquired at Laura Place was touch-typing, which would serve her well in her career as a secretary and Executive Assistant. She could type 100 words a minute or more!

While Mum was always self-conscious about her looks because she wore glasses and had ‘ginger” hair, photos of her as a young and older woman depict her as a slim beauty with stunning, wavy, red hair and kind, soulful, blue eyes. She met her beloved Arnold (Aaron Arnold Zimmerman AKA Dad) at a Jewish dance in Whitechapel and they courted for a few years. When he finally proposed to her, she apparently replied “I thought you would never ask!” They married in 1956 and lived in various homes in London, including a posh flat in Maida Vale in the West End and a bourgeois home in suburban Edgware, but—after some financial setbacks—they moved back to inner-city Clapton. Despite financial hardships, they sacrificed to make sure Anton and Ray received an excellent education at a prestigious private school.

Mum worked at various times for a realtor, an attorney, and ultimately for Republic Bank Dallas. She typically started as a temp but was quickly hired on a permanent basis because of her agreeable personality and excellent administrative and people skills. Working as an Executive Secretary (AKA Executive Assistant) for the Dallas bank and its International Office offered her the life-changing opportunity to move to Dallas, TX, which she and Dad boldly did in 1983. This also changed the lives of their sons, who moved to Dallas in 1984 (Ray) and 1988 (Anton) and have raised families in the US.

She retired from the bank in her late 50s and she and Dad settled into a comfortable retirement. They first lived in Dallas, then in Florida, and finally in Austin, TX, where they moved to be close to Anton and his family. When Dad passed on in 2007, Mum moved in with Anton and Debbie, enjoying time with them and her grandkids, Ally and Harrison. She always expressed contentment and happiness with her life in their home and enjoyed the ease of her later years by reading to her grandchildren and great-grandchild and watching British detective shows and shows about animals on a massive, high-definition TV. A sweet, loving, and encouraging person, she will be sorely missed by her family.

Avril is survived by her two sons Anton and Ray; her granddaughter, Ally; and her great-grandson, Jack; and her brother Frank. Her husband, Arnold, and her grandson, Harrison, preceded her in death, as did her brother Gerald. She was 87 years old.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cookwaldencapitalparks.com for the Zimmerman family.