May 18, 1928-November 13, 2020
Walter W. Zimont, 92, passed away on Friday, November 13, 2020 at St. Andre Healthcare in Biddeford, after a period of decline from a broken hip.
He was born in Greenville, a son of Walter and Elizabeth (Elsie) Cassidy Zimont. As a very young child, he contracted polio, and managed to survive with minimal lasting effects. In Greenville, he was proud of being in the first class in the “new” school building which still stands and serves today.
In his childhood, a great deal of time in the summer was spent at his grandfather’s farm in Bingham on Mahoney Hill Road. Many cousins were also in attendance, and all of them carried treasured memories throughout their lives. In his early teens, the family moved to Yarmouth where he resided for the next 75 years. He attended North Yarmouth Academy. In early 1955, he married Patricia Hincks, and later that year welcomed a son, Tim. In 1959, their daughter Julie was born.
Because of his polio status, he could not serve in the military, but instead served in the National Guard, helping to fight the forest fires of 1946 which burned in much of southern Maine. He was a charter member of the Yarmouth-based Wahoo Club in his youth and until his move into long term care, retained the Minutes books of the club.
He worked for several painting contractors in Yarmouth before going to work for Maine Central Railroad, where he worked for over thirty years as an engineer. After his retirement from the railroad, he resumed painting on a freelance basis for the next several years.
He enjoyed boating, hiking, camping, fishing, an “occasional” whiskey and water, and later in life, mountain climbing, hiking Mt. Katahdin and Mt. Washington in his 60s and 70s. His lifelong interest in aviation culminated in his once-in-a-lifetime experience soaring in a glider in Arizona at the age of 88.
He was predeceased by his parents, his brother Robert Zimont, his son Thomas Zimont, his wife Patricia Zimont, and his sister Anna (“Betty”) Jones.
He is survived by his daughter, Julie Zimont, her fiancé Stephen Boissonneault, granddaughters Erica Hamby and her husband Matt, Nicole Crosby and her husband Adam, and Amanda Fogg and her husband Christopher, as well as seven great grandchildren, Jordan Canfijn, Raychel Fogg, Jacob Hamby, Vanessa Crosby, Joshua Hamby, Christopher Fogg and Callie Fogg, as well as two step-grandchildren, Myra and Analaide Boissonneault.
Visitation will be held from 4-7 pm on Monday, November 16, 2020, at Lindquist Funeral Home, 1 Mayberry Lane, Yarmouth.
The family would like to extend its deepest gratitude to the staff at St. Andre Healthcare Facility for their excellent care of and care for him in his final year. Also deep thanks to all his friends in the “coffee gang” in Yarmouth and the IHOP Railroad breakfast group for their years of friendship and support.
Please visit www.lindquistfuneralhome.com to sign Walter’s online guest book.
