Judith Ellen (Morris) Zimmerman
November 24, 1943 — October 10, 2026
Judith Ellen (Morris) Zimmerman, 82, of Circleville, Ohio — “Judy” to all who knew her — passed away surrounded by loved ones on Saturday, October 10, 2026. Born Judith Ellen Morris on November 24, 1943, in Clarksburg, Ohio, to Russell Merrill Morris and Ruth Ann (Cozad) Morris, she grew up there, attended the Clarksburg school, and was always the one front and center.
It was there she met James Arthur “Jim” Zimmerman — the boy at the back of the class photo, craning his neck to watch her while everyone else faced the camera. He never really stopped. Judy finished high school at Chillicothe and, on August 10, 1961, she and Jim were married, beginning a partnership that would last more than fifty years.
Together they built a working life defined by grit and teamwork. Jim had a gift for solving problems and building solutions; Judy had a gift for people and for detail, and her books were accurate to the penny. From a Shell station on Cleveland Avenue in Columbus, to the Sohio on North Court Street and the Exxon on East Main Street in Circleville, the two were inseparable in business as in life — famously turning that struggling Exxon station around to sell more than a million gallons in a single year. They went on to found Zimco Auto Electric, restoring Circleville’s original timber-frame fire station at Water and Scioto Streets — once home to the city’s horse-drawn fire engine — into a full-service repair shop, with Judy running the books, payroll, scheduling, sales, and inventory.
In retirement, they settled on the family homestead on Bell Station Road north of Circleville, raising rotational crops of corn and beans and turning their hands to aquaculture, rabbitry, and earthworms — even organizing local growers to buy and sell together. Through it all, Judy was beside Jim until his death on January 11, 2015.
A woman of Christian faith, Judy instilled those values in her sons above all. She and Jim gave them everything they needed and taught them that wants were something to strive for, and she was proud to see both through college.
Judy was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, James Arthur “Jim” Zimmerman; her parents, Russell Merrill Morris and Ruth Ann (Cozad) Morris; and her siblings, Cork Morris, Phyllis (Morris) Alexander, and Linda Jean (Morris) Stinson.
She is survived by her two sons and the daughters-in-law she welcomed as her own — James Anthony “Tony” Zimmerman and Leslie Anne (Waguespack) Zimmerman, and James Alan Zimmerman and Jacqueline Marie (Wonkovich) Zimmerman; five grandchildren, Alexander James Zimmerman, Jane Arley (Zimmerman) Kalista, Adam James Zimmerman, Jackson Argote Zimmerman, and Nicole Ann Zimmerman; and two great-grandchildren, James William Zimmerman and Stanislaw Henry Zimmerman.
A memorial service will be held at the home of her son Tony and his wife, Leslie, at 4146 Bell Station Road, Circleville, Ohio 43113, on Saturday, October 24, 2026, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Family and friends are welcome. Arrangements are entrusted to Wellman Funeral Home.
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Online condolences can be made at www.wellmanfuneralhomes.com.
Full service details and the family guest book are available at Wellman Funeral Home-Circleville.