Carolyn Zimmerman is pictured preparing some baking ingredients in her home kitchen. Zimmerman, a retired nurse, makes desserts for the L.I.T.E. Recovery Cafe in Milford, among other activities. Photo by Lilli Dwyer.

By Lilli Dwyer
InkFreeNews

MILFORD — Carolyn Zimmerman is an area native who has stayed in Milford all her life, except for the time she spent training to become a nurse.

After graduating from Parkview School of Nursing in 1967, she and her husband moved into a log cabin in Milford. Later, they built a larger house on the land and have lived there for the past 22 years. The couple have three daughters and 10 grandchildren.

Zimmerman was a nurse at Wakarusa Medical Clinic for 42 years and a school nurse at Nappanee Elementary School for eight years. She also spent time working in a nursing home and driving a school bus.

“I was just always interested in helping people. My mom said she could never keep a band-aid in the house because I had them and was putting them on my dolls. I remember lining them up on my bed and treating them like they were sick,” she recalled.

Zimmerman got a sense of satisfaction from her nursing career, even through working long hours and evenings. She also balanced taking care of her family.

“I probably enjoyed being a mom more than anything,” she said. “I always said if a busy mother that had several children could run a household, she’d be a good presidential candidate.”

As a child, Zimmerman would cook for her family’s farmhands while her mother worked. For the past year, she has been volunteering her culinary skills at Living In Transition Effectively, or L.I.T.E. The recovery cafe in Milford provides home-cooked meals three times a week, and Zimmerman usually makes dessert, filling in other meal services when necessary.

Zimmerman is also a dedicated member of the Friends of the Milford Library and used to be active as a Purdue Master Gardener, earning her certification in 2003.

“I would have been a landscape architect if I knew back then what I know now. I just really enjoy working outside in the dirt,” she said.

While she does have raised vegetable beds, she much prefers flower gardening. A hip surgery has slowed down her work in the garden somewhat, but she said, “I won’t give up, I’ll just keep moving.”

As a master gardener, Zimmerman got the opportunity to work with a group called the Purdue Council for Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching. She met with lawmakers in Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., to talk about program development and legislation for Purdue’s agricultural research.

“I loved meeting with Jackie (Walorski); she was awesome,” she noted.

When not cooking at L.I.T.E., Zimmerman helps her daughter, Milford’s community coordinator, Karena Wilkinson, with volunteer activities around Milford. She also enjoys traveling, painting, flower arranging and attending her grandchildrens’ sports games.