Mary Anne “Mickey” Zirkle was born in the Hospital at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 12, 1945. Both of her parents, Robert McDonald and Lorraine “Chevie” McDonald, were officers in the US Navy. Due to her surname, Navy friends immediately christened her “Little Mickey”. The name stuck. As an infant, she lived in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, which started a lifetime love of warm ocean waters. She grew up in suburban New York and enjoyed sailing and swimming. After graduating president of her class at the School of the Holy Child in Rye, New York, she enrolled at Cornell University to study Biology. It was there that she met her future husband, Doug Zirkle. They were married after graduation in August 1967. A marriage of love that lasted over 50 years. This union resulted in two daughters: Kristin Anne “Kaz” Zirkle (husband Raymond Crowe) and Alison “Aliy” Zirkle (husband Allen Moore). She was blessed with one grandchild, Samuel G. Z. Crowe.
Mickey started teaching swimming to infants at a YMCA when her children were just babies. Her association with the YMCA grew and she became executive director at branches in St Louis, Missouri and Grand Rapids, Michigan, ultimately rising to Vice President of Operations in Grand Rapids. Mickey's passion for the ocean was evident in her joy of SCUBA. She was a diver and instructor and explored many waters off Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. She even lived under water in a HyrdoLab, studying fish parasites, for a week. She and Doug eventually resigned their jobs and moved onto a sailboat. They spend the next 3 years cruising the Eastern US, the Bahamas and Florida… on a shoe string. Returning from the Bahamas, they established a home in Ft Pierce, Florida. Mickey’s community involvement continued by volunteering at Heathcote Botanical Gardens, the Manatee Center and the United Way. Alaska was also their home as she and Doug spent their summers (and one month every winter) in their hand built cabin in Two Rivers near their daughters and their extended families.
Mickey is survived by her best friend and husband, Doug and her daughters and their families and her siblings; Toebe, Bob, Sally, her sister-in-law Dot and their families. Beyond her family, Mickey has touched and influenced the lives of many.
A life that extended well beyond herself.
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