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November 11, 1919 - February 18, 2004
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November 11, 1919 - February 18, 2004
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At an age when most people would be starting to wind down, Lola Zimmerman quietly began turning her love of gardening into what would become one of the signature businesses of the region, The Herbfarm. The Herbfarm began with a wheelbarrow of herbs at the family farm in Fall City thirty years ago. Over the next 25 years, that initial wheelbarrow of herbs turned into one of the most important herb farms in America. The Herbfarm grew and sold over one-thousand different kinds of herb plants. It also had an herb shop, national mail order business, and a school which taught over 300 different classes each year on cooking, crafting, gardening, and the medicinal use of herbs. The Herbfarm Restaurant, which opened in 1986, was also a product of the family's Fall City farm. Lola Zimmerman died on February 18, 2004. She was 84. Lola was born Lola Marie Kammer on November 10, 1919 in Brule, Nebraska. She grew up on a Nebraska farm and attended high school during the dust bowl and depression years. After her father's death, she moved to California to live with her sister. There she met William Zimmerman. They were married on December 12, 1941 in Arcadia, California. After the war, Bill and Lola built and ran a resort, Rogue Woods on the Rogue River in Gold Beach, Oregon. The family moved to the Seattle area in 1954, where Bill worked for Boeing. Bill and Lola purchased an old dairy farm in Fall City in 1974. That farm became the site of The Herbfarm. During the next 20 years, Bill and Lola sought out rare herbs during their travels, which they added to the growing collection. 1986, son Ron, and his wife Carrie, joined The Herbfarm and added The Herbfarm Restaurant which served 6-course luncheons and 9-course dinners on the farm. When the restaurant was destroyed by fire in January of 1997, lengthy delays with building permits eventually caused the herb business to close and the restaurant to relocate to Woodinville Bill and Lola retired once again in 2000. They moved to North Bend. In Lola's leisure time, she enjoyed gardening, reading, writing, painting, latch-hook and visiting her many friends and relatives. Bill died in 2001. Lola is survived by son Ron and his wife, Carrie Van Dyck, of Woodinville; son Bob and his wife, Valorie, of Kent; grandchildren Thomas, Paul and Anne of Seattle, and many nieces, nephews and dear friends. The Herbfarm Restaurant survives in Woodinville and is America's only AAA 5-Diamond Award restaurant in American north of San Francisco and west of Chicago. Graveside services will be held at the Fall City Cemetery on Friday, February 27, at 11 AM. A reception will follow. Friends are invited to share memories and sign the familiy’s online guestbook at www.flintofts.com. Arrangements are by Flintofts Issaquah Funeral Home. |
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