Zook, Merle Kenneth (1928-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Sep 3 p. 9

Birth date: 1928 Jan 23

text of obituary:

MERLE ZOOK

Merle Kenneth Zook, 79, of Denver, Colo., died July 22, 2007. He was born Jan. 23, 1928, to Uriel and Kathryn Zook in Allensville, Pa.

After graduating from both Allensville High School and Eastern Mennonite School, he moved to Hannibal, Mo., where he worked as an orderly in a hospital. He met Grace Wenger there, and they were married on April 17, 1949.

He worked as a Linotype operator at Mennonite Publishing House from 1950 to 1958, when the family moved to Denver. He continued his career in the printing field. He also discovered a passion for amateur radio that continued as his lifelong hobby.

After the death of Grace in 1987, he volunteered with Mennonite Central Committee at Akron, Pa., for two years.

He then enjoyed retirement in Denver. He injured his leg in the spring of 2006, which never healed, resulting in an amputation in January 2007. Although this was a difficult challenge, he was working hard at resuming independence again when he died of a heart attack.

Survivors include four children, Ken Zook and his wife, Mae, Barbara Swartzendruber and her husband, Stan, Rose Barber and her husband, Mike, and Les Gustafson-Zook and his wife, Gwen; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services were held at Glennon Heights Mennonite Church of Lakewood, Colo.