Norma Ruth Zimmer

1939 - 2025

Norma Ruth Zimmer (née Davis), 85, of San Carlos, California passed away on Sunday, May 18, 2025, after champagne toasts with her children. Norma was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 16, 1939, and grew up in Highland Park, California. She raised three children and worked her way through college, earning a Bachelor's in philosophy at CSU San Bernardino and a Master's degree in English Literature at San Francisco State. She became an instructor of English and critical thinking at colleges including Evergreen, Cañada, and Menlo College, after working at several Silicon Valley start-ups. She was a dedicated volunteer, raising money for programs at San Bernardino Juvenile Hall, tutoring at the St. Francis Center in Redwood City, helping Kigutu International Academy students in Burundi, driving for Meals on Wheels, and working at the San Carlos Adult Community Center. She will be remembered for her fiercely independent and loving nature, dedication to fairness and justice, love for travel, music, books, film, and art, and for her killer bridge game.

She is preceded in death by her sister, Nancy Jane Royce, and survived by her brother, Charles (Letitia) Pearson Davis of Irvine; her three children, Nanci Anderson (Mark Bolas) of Los Angeles, Chet Anderson (Holly Thorsen) of San Francisco, and Lisa Bruce (Mark Bruce) of Reno, Nev.; her four beloved grandchildren, Elizabeth Bolas (Arjun Sathyamoorthy), Theodore Bolas, Joseph Bruce, and Sarah Bruce; and many adored nieces and nephews.

She was remembered at a memorial gathering on Wednesday, May 21 at Crippen & Flynn Carlmont Chapel Belmont. The chapel's website has a livestream link. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Friends of San Carlos Community Center, Planned Parenthood Northern California, or Kigutu International Academy.