Zona Zoe Dressel Douglass, 98, died Nov. 27, 2021.
Zona Zoe was born in 1923 in Bushton, Kan., to George Martin Dressel and Edna Leslie Dressel, the third of five siblings. Growing up on a farm in the heartland formulated her character and spirit, and gave her an indomitable ability to face all of life’s difficulties with energy and a smile.
She graduated from Bushton Consolidated High School in 1941 with a class of 19 fellow classmates. Answering the call of the war effort, she moved to Kansas City, Kan., and took up a career as a train scheduler and telegraph operator with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. One of her primary tasks was coordinating the movement of troop trains bound for the east and west coasts. She also worked at Winter General Hospital, assisting wounded soldiers who were returning from the fronts of World War II.
Zona Zoe met her husband, Claude Eugene “Doug” Douglass in her hometown of Bushton in what could only be described as a cinematic moment. While out with a friend, Zona Zoe noticed the handsome Doug crossing the street in front of her. When her friend was unable to identify this stranger, Zona Zoe declared that if nobody else knew who he was, she was going to find out for herself.
The two were married on Aug. 29, 1946. They spent the next 73 years in a bond that few get to enjoy, raising three boys.
After Doug completed his degree at Central Missouri State University in 1950, the couple embarked on a 35-year career with 3M, transferring to numerous offices in the Midwest before arriving in Clarendon Hills in 1958. As Zoe’s boys got older, she returned to the workforce, spending 25 years with Montgomery Ward in La Grange.
After retiring, Zoe became a volunteer at Hinsdale Hospital, completing 25 years of service while also providing volunteer support to the Meals on Wheels Program in the Western Suburbs.
She was an avid fisherman all her life and loved the family’s annual trip to Lecuyer’s Resort on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario. She routinely caught the most (and the biggest!) fish. She bowled, gardened, baked, played Bunco, and loved spending time with her friends and neighbors. She will always be remembered for her loving heart, courtesy and hospitality. She was incredibly devoted to her family and will be greatly missed.
She is survived by her sons, Ronald and Stanley; her daughter-in-law, Kathy; her grandsons, Benjamin and Andrew, and many nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Doug; and her son, Samuel.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, at Sullivan Funeral Home, 60 S. Grant St., Hinsdale.
A celebration of life party will follow at 4 p.m. at Parkers’ Restaurant in Downers Grove.
Inurnment will be private at Clarendon Hills Cemetery in Darien.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made online to Amita Adventist Hinsdale Hospital at https://www.amitahealth.org/giving/ or the Meals on Wheels Program at https://www.dupageseniorcouncil.org.
