Carmena Ruth (Barnes) Zimmerman

On June 1, Carmena Ruth Barnes Zimmerman, loving mother, respected educator and colleague, and friend, passed.

Carmena was born April 12, 1932 in Charlotte, NC to Poley and Betty Bumgarner Barnes, where she spent her youth with her three brothers and one sister. She attended Meredith College, graduating in 1954. After college, Carmena worked at several different jobs that took her to Boston and New York City, and was studying Russian history at Duke University where she met and married Cullen C. Zimmerman II in 1958. Carmena and Cullen had three children in the following years and spent several of those years abroad as part of Zimmerman’s military career.

Carmena returned to graduate school and received her Masters in Education with a specialty in College Prep at UNC-Chapel Hill. With her husband and three children, she settled on a family property located just outside of Kinston, NC. Carmena taught history and social studies at Woodington Junior High School from 1972-1982. She then moved on to another gratifying job as an employment counselor at the North Carolina Employment Security Commission until her retirement in 1997.

Carmena will be remembered by a generation of students as an engaging and compassionate teacher, and by colleagues as a supportive and good humored friend. Carmena had a passion for reading, art, and gardening, as well as state and local history. She was a committed supporter of the Lenoir County Historical Association and devoted a great deal of time and energy to caretaking their one-room schoolhouse and researching one-room schoolhouses in Lenoir County.

Carmena was preceded in death by her husband Cullen C. Zimmerman and is survived by her three children, Cullen, Carla, and Clayton (Chico) Zimmerman, as well as grandchildren Kelsey Tollefson, Dylan Zimmerman, Gabe Tobias, and Sam Tobias, and great-grandson Parker Johnson.

Although there will not be a memorial service, written memories of Carmena (or Ms. Zimmerman, as she was known to her students) would be treasured by the family. Should you want to make a contribution to her favorite interests – animal welfare, feeding the hungry, local history, or art for all – please do.