Isolde B. Zierk

Isolde Brigette (Strobel) Zierk, 76, of Columbus, passed away on September 2, 2022. She was born in Stuttgart, Germany on May 30, 1946 to the late Ir. Friedrich and Maria (Rachel) Strobel. She was also preceded in death by a sister, Margot Tate, and a brother, Frieder Strobel.

Isolde, at the age of 19, graduated with a paralegal degree while working for the Orange Crush Company in Germany. Then, in 1965, Isolde purchased a new suit, a single suitcase and a hat box and came to the United States of America. She came here alone, on a work visa, speaking very little English and served as an au pair for a very affluent family in Lake Forest, Illinois. There she met, fell in love and married the late George W. Zierk, Jr. Loving this country so much, she applied, tested, and became a legal US Citizen, on May 11th, 1976. This surely was the basis of the great patriot pride she often expressed.

Isolde’s love for flowers, gardening and cooking was only surpassed by her compassion for and selfless desire in demonstrating her “agape love” of others. Her “pride and joy” were her two sons, “the apples of her eye.” She also “believed in and adopted” 397 ‘other sons,’ the Marines and Sailors of Lima Company 3rd Battalion 25th Marine Regiment. She served as the Key Volunteer Coordinator during their combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. This led to her personal recognition by the Commandant of the Marine Corps during her award ceremony in Washington, DC.

Upon Isolde’s retirement, she continued to serve by volunteering with the USO and enjoyed traveling with friends. She even took a couple of trips to Germany to visit family and friends, always assuring she would return home, to the United States. She even began to “share” with her daughters-in-law some of her “secret” recipes. Just last Christmas she taught her grandchildren how to bake authentic “German Christmas Cookies” using the metric system.

Let it always be known that, in all and everything Isolde did, it was her love for Christ, that served as the basis and reasoning in every role or capacity she served, be it wife, mother, grandmother or friend, and even more frequently than is known, as a ‘Herbergsmutter.’

Isolde will be deeply missed by her children, Guy (Kelly) Zierk and Beau (Cassondra) Zierk; and grandchildren: Cayden, Averyana and Isabella and Xander, Ethan and Valerie, and many other family members, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ, until they are all reunited once again in Heaven.

Visitation will take place on Thursday, September 15, 2022 from 5pm - 7pm at SCHOEDINGER NORTHEAST, 1051 East Johnstown Road, Gahanna, OH 43230. Isolde's funeral service will be held at 10am on Saturday, September 17, 2022 at Reynoldsburg Baptist Church, 887 Rosehill Rd, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068. Services will conclude with interment at Forest Lawn following the funeral service.

“Going (Gone) to Heaven Can’t Wait”