Mary Anne Zinn

Born Jan. 31, 1936, in Jackson, Mary Anne was the only child of Marion Eleanor and Luther Albert Pahl. She graduated from Jackson High School in 1954, then attended the University of Michigan where she majored in history and met the love of her life. She graduated college in 1958, with honors and married George in June 1959. She taught history and English to sixth graders in Lathrup Village for almost four years before starting a family.

A resident of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mary Anne had multiple interests including tennis, bridge and music, all while being an avid volunteer, organizer and nonprofit leader. She belonged to the Junior League of Detroit, Junior League Gardeners, Country Club of Detroit, Sigma Gamma, Detroit Institute of Arts, The Libri and Morning Music Club. Her real love was music, whether pounding out jazz or a marching band song on piano, or performing classical music on violin. She was a long-time parishioner and choir mother of Christ Church Grosse Pointe, where she became an ardent supporter of the choir program. She spent years organizing the Christ Church Antiques Show, co-chaired it twice, and in 2006 served as honorary chair with her husband. In addition, she and her husband traveled frequently following the boys choir starting in 1981, from London to Vienna and beyond. She was a member of the Washington National Cathedral Association and supported Detroit Industrial School, Bridge Marathon and Children’s Home of Detroit.

A unique, strong-willed woman, mother and wife with an amazing memory, life with Mary Anne was never dull. She would always win Trivial Pursuit on the history category alone and was never a chef, as the family fire alarm and the Grosse Pointe Farms fire department can attest. She loved spending summers at the family home in Canada on Lake Huron, continued playing bridge until her recent hospitalization, could not live without her daily copy of USA Today with its crossword puzzle and read every mystery/grocery store paperback you could get her. She had a wide, warm and wonderful community of friends and stayed in touch with them by phone, letters and, reluctantly, email.

She is survived by her children, Suzanne Zinn Mueller (Kent), George Hiner Zinn III (Bonnie) and L. Pahl Zinn (Christie); and cherished grandchildren, Eleanor, George IV, Spencer, Kate, Trevor, Matthew, Luke and Kendall.

A memorial will be held this summer at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The DeHaven Fund for Music CCGP at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, 61 Grosse Pointe Blvd., Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, 48236; Washington National Cathedral at cathedral.org; Gamma Phi Beta Foundation (memo line Mary Anne Pahl Zinn – Beta Chapter Scholarship) at Gamma Phi Beta P.O. Box 731699 Dallas, TX 75373-1699; or St. John’s on the Lake, 70642 Bluewater Hwy 21, Grand Bend, ON, N0M 1T0.