PENDLETON, N.Y. (WIVB) — Joanne Zimmerman exemplifies what it means to be a Good Samaritan. The Niagara Falls native is an educator, a woman of faith and a community powerhouse.
“It’s just a love of the community, a love of the people in the community and God,” Zimmerman said. “I just want to keep setting an example for people, what can be done.”
She spent over three decades as an elementary school teacher in the Niagara Falls City School District — laying down the foundation for hundreds of students to carry with them through life.
“I really just felt like it would be an area that I could have an impact on people,” Zimmerman said. “I taught everything but third grade, pretty much. I was involved with several different reading programs over the years. I would be working in the classroom for a while, then I would come out to do a program called ‘Success for All,’ then I would go back into the class and then I was instrumental in starting a program called the Primary Enhancement Program that we started back in about 2008. My last eight years were with the pre-K students at Cataract Elementary School.”
She and her husband, Michael, are high school sweethearts. He joined the U.S. Air Force and Joanne proudly stood by his side as a military wife for 33 years. She was involved with the Key Spouse and Family Readiness Program at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station—offering support to other military families.
“It’s not just about the logistics of their spouse being away but it’s also just providing them keys to financial direction that they might have, or they need someone to plow the driveway during a snowstorm,” Zimmerman explained. “Things like that, just being a resource for them.”
When Michael retired as chief master sergeant in 2020, Zimmerman organized a patriotic send-off — a memory she’s particularly grateful for.
“Under normal circumstances, there would have been hundreds of women and men there at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station to say goodbye with well wishes and stories. However, the base was down to a skeleton crew and much of the usual retiree fanfare was suspended,” Zimmerman said. “I knew he was very humble and of course understood. But after 33 years of service in the United States Air Force, I could not let the day go by without some type of recognition.”
Zimmerman thought about what she could do for her husband on the route of his drive home. She invited people from different areas of his life to come out and line the streets along the 14 miles between their home and the airbase.
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“We had his co-workers, friends, Starpoint teachers and administrators, people from the Chapel at Crosspoint, neighbors, high school friends and family members lining the streets. The Sheriff’s Department provided a police escort and a friend from the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station provided the 60-foot flag, displayed from two firetrucks in front of our house,” Zimmerman said. “It turned out to be a beautiful day filled with love and appreciation for a man that truly deserved it.”
Two years later, Zimmerman said goodbye to the classroom. The opportunities to lend a helping hand beyond the realm of school were endless.
“Upon retiring, I just said, ‘God, my yes is on the table. What do you want me to do? Lead me where you want and show me how I can be useful to help other people in my life,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman devotes herself to others. She’s one of the founders of Pendleton Farm and Home Days, a two-day festival in the town.
“The whole purpose of the Pendleton Farm and Home Days was to bring together the people, the families, the businesses, the organizations, the churches of Pendleton and all the surrounding areas,” Zimmerman said. “To bring them together and just celebrate, get to know each other and support one another.”
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She also helps with weddings and other events at her church, the Chapel at CrossPoint, and volunteers at the Historic Palace Theatre in Lockport. She’s even turned her hobby of creating themed baskets into auctions for the various organizations she’s part of.
“She, to me, is the epitome of a remarkable woman,” said Liesel Marcantonio, Zimmerman’s daughter. “Even the people that she interacts with in just those singular capacities are being impacted by her, whether it’s the people who knew her as their teacher, or the people who know her through church, or the people who benefit from her kindness and all of these altruistic activities. I get to see all of that at play and that’s just such a huge blessing. I’m just so proud of her for all the ways that she makes a difference.”
And though she’s retired, Zimmerman still makes it a point to give back to young minds. She gives scholarships to students through the Lasalle Senior High School Alumni Association, the College Club of Niagara Falls and the Alpha Delta Kappa (ADK) International Teacher’s Sorority.
“I can’t step away from that, that’s where my heart is,” Zimmerman said. “With the students and the children. So that is one of the things that I enjoy doing.”
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Zimmerman is also the chairperson of ADK’s Altruism Committee. The female educators get together once a month and select an organization in Western New York to collect essential items for.
“We make up a calendar so we know for the whole year who we’ll be donating to,” Zimmerman said. “I’m lucky because I get to be the one to bring it all to these organizations. I’m only one of 40 ladies who are contributing, but I get to see their responses. I get to see the excitement and hear how thrilled they are when they know that we’re giving back to their organization.”
All this hardly begins to scratch the surface of the ways in which Zimmerman gives back. She attributes her instilled goodwill to the resilient women in her life, and even more so, her faith—the faith of a remarkable woman with a servant’s heart.
“Never have I done anything, the deeds that I’ve done, for recognition or praise,” Zimmerman said. “I live my faith through the deeds that I do and I try to set a good example for people and live in a way that reflects that. I just want to keep doing as much as I can to help out in the community for as long as I can.”
“She’s shown me the value of being involved. She lives it every single day. Whenever there’s an opportunity for her to serve somewhere or to encourage someone in the work that they’re already doing, she seizes that opportunity,” Marcantonio said. “I hope she knows just how important she is to me, how valuable she is in my life and just the impact that I’ve gotten to see her have on so many people.”
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Tune into News 4 at 4 every Tuesday throughout March to see a profile of one woman in Western New York who stands out. The local winner of this year’s Remarkable Women campaign will be announced on Tuesday, April 2.
Jordan Norkus is an award-winning anchor who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here or follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.