Bernard Robert Zimmer

Bernard (Bernie) Robert Zimmer entered this world during an Iowa blizzard, shortly after midnight on March 17, 1933, and left it nearly 93 years later, during another winter storm, shortly after midnight on January 28, 2026.

Bernie was born in a farmhouse on the Gilbeck farm (Chickasaw County, Iowa), where his parents (Ernest and Ruth) were tenant farmers. He was the youngest (by 9 years) of 4 children, behind (in order) sister Carol, and brothers Wayne and Don. When Bernie was 6 years old, the family moved to tenant farm the nearby 120-acre Ross farm (Floyd County, Iowa), where they raised hogs, dairy cattle, chickens, and grew feed crops (corn, oats, hay and soybeans), and also maintained a big garden for self-use. During the years on the Ross Farm, Bernie attended a country

schoolhouse, helped his parents with farm chores, and spent his spare time roaming the Iowa countryside, observing birds, hunting, fishing, and running traplines, the spoils of which, allowed him to sell pelts of mink and fox (among others) to furriers, and collect small “varmint” bounties on gophers. For the rest of his life, Bernie reminisced fondly of growing up on the farm, and particularly of his mother’s talents as a cook. He was baptized and underwent Confirmation in the Lutheran Church, and carried his Lutheran faith with him from childhood throughout his life.

Bernie attended high school in nearby Charles City, and in March of 1950, during his senior year, the family moved into town, to a house built primarily by Bernie’s older brother Don. Bernie graduated from Charles City High School, and then, spent the next 13 months working at the local Oliver Farm Equipment Plant, working in the retail credit service department.

In April of 1952, Bernie enlisted in the Air Force. He did his Basic Training at Parks Air Force Base (AFB), in Pleasanton, California, and attended Control Tower Operator school at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi, before being stationed at Dover AFB in Dover, Delaware, with a 2-month stint at Orlando AFB for Organizational Supply Specialist School. Just after Thanksgiving in 1953, he was assigned to Korea, just months after the official end of hostilities. He spent one year in South Korea, first at Pusan K9 AFB, working warehouse supply; then at Kimpo AFB K14 near Seoul, working inventory and interior guard duty; and then, to OL78 at Taegu, where he worked air traffic control, keeping track of all VFR flight plans for all of South Korea. While stationed at Taegu, Bernie’s fast-pitch softball team (for which he was the primary pitcher) won the Base Championship. After completing his stint in Korea, he returned to Dover AFB in Delaware, where he worked air traffic control from December 1954 until his discharge on April 22, 1956. His final rank achieved was A1C (Airman First Class).

While stationed at Dover, Bernie continued his nascent fastpitch softball avocation, pitching for his squadron team, and throwing his only no-hitter in what proved to be a more than 25-year participation (both as a player and player-manager) in the sport. At Dover, Bernie’s good friend, fellow Air Force ATC, and third baseman on his softball team, Harold “Ray” Hubschmitt, introduced him to area native, Mary Emma Graham, a close friend of Ray and his wife Muriel (“Merkie”), and babysitter to their two young children at the time. A romance soon blossomed, and Bernie and Mary married on New Year’s Eve, 1955.

Following Bernie’s discharge from the Air Force, he and Mary moved back to his home town of Charles City, Iowa, for 6 weeks, before moving to Oklahoma City, OK, in June of 1956, to start a 10-week program at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) training academy (air traffic controller school). After graduating from the academy, he began his career as an air traffic controller (ATC) with the FAA at Rochester, Minnesota. This was the first in what was destined to become a long series of job-related moves, all while working as an ATC with the FAA. Bernie and Mary remained in Rochester until spring of 1958, when they moved to Madison, Wisconsin. Mary gave birth to their first son, Kevin, on the very day that the moving vans came to move their belongings to Madison! Over the next few years, moves to Rockford, Illinois, Mount Vernon, Iowa, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa came in rapid succession. While at Rockford, Bernie began taking flight lessons, to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. He completed his training while at Cedar Rapids, and soloed for the first time in August of 1960, and was okayed for solo cross-country a couple of months later. Decades later, Bernie frequently reminisced that being able to pilot his parents on the first, and only airplane ride of their lives, and seeing his mother’s wonder and joy at looking down on her house from the sky, was one of his proudest accomplishments.

From Cedar Rapids, Bernie, Mary and Kevin moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where they lived for about 4 years. While in Des Moines, Mary gave birth to their second son, Barry, in spring of 1963. In 1966, the family moved to Rapid City, South Dakota. Of all of the places Bernie lived, the Black Hills of South Dakota remained his favorite. Two years later, Bernie landed a promotion that took the family on a grand adventure, moving to Fairbanks, Alaska, not even 10 years after Alaska became the 49th state. The move to Fairbanks came in January of 1968, and entailed driving the length of the ALCAN Highway (nearly 1400 miles), still unpaved in 1968, from British Columbia, through the Yukon Territory and on to Alaska, through ferocious winter weather, in a newly purchased motor home.

The family lived in Alaska for almost 4 years, first in Fairbanks, and then, in Anchorage. Bernie continued in his capacity as an ATC, working for the FAA, but worked in radar facilities at Eielson AFB and Elmendorf AFB, rather than at the municipal control towers. The years in Alaska allowed him to indulge his passion for the outdoors to the maximum, and included everything from ice fishing and salmon fishing, to a successful Moose hunt. Family vacations in the Winnebago covered nearly every connected corner of the Alaska road system, and, invariably, involved much fishing, berry-picking and sightseeing. Bernie also kept up his involvement with fastpitch softball, managing and pitching for a Lutheran team that won the Anchorage Church League Championship in 1971.

Upon leaving Alaska in September of 1971, the family moved to Fargo, North Dakota, then to El Paso, Texas, Amarillo, Texas, and Fort Smith, Arkansas, all moves made as either promotions or lateral pay-grade moves as part of his ATC career with the FAA. While in Amarillo, Bernie took night classes at the local community college, and obtained his 2-year Associate Degree, and while in Fort Smith, also took and passed the test for his real estate license, which he obtained in 1979, and maintained for 10 years. He retired from the FAA in April of 1985, but in “retirement”, continued to work intermittently in air traffic control at smaller airport facilities operated by private corporations (as opposed to FAA-run), first at Gillette, Wyoming, and then, at Enid, Oklahoma, both, under the auspices of Midwest ATC. These stints were followed by intermittent work as a training instructor at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, where he was contracted by The University of Oklahoma. During this period, he also worked as a Weather Observer at Wiley Post Airport on the outskirts of Oklahoma City. From 1979–1994, Bernie and Mary continued to reside in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but with Bernie constantly commuting back-and-forth between home and temporary apartments in Gillette and/or Oklahoma City. In 1994, they moved one last time, to Texarkana, Arkansas, where Bernie took a full-time ATC position with Robinson Aviation (RVA), working out of the Texarkana Control Tower. From February 1995 until August of 1998, he was the Control Tower Manager.

Sadly, Mary was diagnosed with stomach-esophageal cancer in spring of 1998, and entered into a clinical trial at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Bernie had to relinquish his position as Tower Manager, in order to be with and take care of Mary during her stay at MD Anderson. When they returned home to Texarkana, Bernie maintained a job-share ATC position at the Texarkana Control Tower, while he continued to care for Mary. After a courageous, year-long battle, Mary succumbed, passing away in March, 1999, nine months before she and Bernie would have celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. A few months later, Bernie was forced to take a mandatory medical retirement from air traffic control, following an emergancy angioplasty procedure.

Bernie continued to work, intermittently, as an instructor at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City, up until 2003. In June of 2000, he married Madgie Lou Stovall of nearby Queen City, Texas, and they spent the next 25+ years together, all but the last year of it in their home in Texarkana, Arkansas. That home, and its swimming pool, became a focal point for family gatherings over the years, particularly for Madgie’s extended family (including children Pam, Karen, Gina, Wade and Tracy and their spouses and children) most of whom live in the Texarkana region. Bernie and Madgie also traveled extensively for several years in their RVs, and even enjoyed an Alaska vacation. With his traveling days behind him, Bernie spent his time keeping up with sports, particularly college basketball and March Madness, and cheering on his beloved San Francisco Giants baseball team and Iowa Hawkeyes basketball teams. He also enjoyed keeping tabs on the various birds that visited their backyard feeders, and always made sure to mention whenever he saw his favorite “yard bird”, the Indigo Bunting. He and Madgie enjoyed dining out on a near daily basis, and were “regulars” at several Texarkana restaurants, to the point of being on a first-name basis with wait-staff nearly everywhere they went! Their freezer was always well-stocked with ice cream or sherbet, Bernie’s lifelong, favorite late evening indulgence. At home, they enjoyed binge watching old Westerns on television (The Virginian was his favorite). Bernie remained in good health until the last couple of years, when congestive heart failure began to take its toll. Even as his health spiraled downward, he retained his cheerful, sweet disposition, seldom complaining about anything. When Hospice nurses asked him how he was doing on any given visit, his response was typically “Fair to middling” or “Pretty good”, always delivered with a smile, no matter how poorly he was feeling. Each and every phone conversation (going back many years) with his sons ended with an “I love you guys”, and a request to extend “hugs and high-fives” to spouses, children and grandchildren alike, and he regularly expressed how proud he was of them and their families. In one of his last in-person conversations with his son Kevin, he spoke emotionally of how blessed he was to have known and married two such wonderful women as Mary and Madgie.

Bernie is survived by his wife of the last 25 years, Madgie Lou of Texarkana, Texas; his sons Kevin (Susan) Zimmer of Atascadero, California and Barry (Yvonne) Zimmer of El Paso, Texas; his two granddaughters, Marina (Ryan) Stiefvater of Napa, California and Alex Zimmer of El Paso, Texas; and two great grandchildren, Brinn Margaret Stiefvater, and Clayton Bernard Stiefvater, of Napa, California. He is predeceased by his wife of 44 years, Mary; his sister Carol Springer, and brothers Wayne Zimmer and Don Zimmer; and parents Ernest and Ruth Zimmer. Bernie’s family would like to express their deepest gratitude to the nurses, aides and other staff at Hospice of Texarkana, for the exceptional and compassionate care that they delivered to Bernie over the last year of his life. In lieu of flowers, the family would ask that people donate to Hospice of Texarkana in Bernie’s name at www.hospiceoftexarkana.org

Memorial services are scheduled for 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026 at First Lutheran Church, Texarkana, Texas with Pastor Scott Sundbye officiating.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. prior to the service at the church.

Online tributes may be submitted to www.eastfuneralhome.com