Donald Van Zee

DONALD "ZEKE" VAN ZEE

Iowa City

Donald R. "Zeke" Van Zee, 74, of Iowa City, passed away Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 3, at Lensing Funeral Home, 605 Kirkwood Ave., Iowa City. Visitation will be from 9

a.m. until service time. Private burial will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Holden Compre-hensive Cancer Center or the Briarwood Memorial Fund.

Don was born May 24, 1941, in Newton, Iowa, the son of Martin and Gertrude (Lourens) Van Zee. He grew up in rural Jasper County and was a 1959 graduate of Prairie City High School. A short time after graduating from high school, Don enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he learned to operate computers and where his fellow servicemen gave him the nickname "Zeke."

Following his service, he attended the University of Iowa for four years and continued his work in computer operations. On Sept. 19, 1970, Zeke married Beth Rosencrans at her family's cabins on the bluffs of the Osage River near Henley, Mo. Later on, they moved to an acreage southwest of Iowa City, where their children grew up, and where Zeke raised cattle and an assortment of other livestock. During this time Zeke continued his career as a computer systems analyst, which spanned 42 years beginning at the Measurement Research Center in Iowa City, and culminating in his retirement from Pearson as a software engineer in 2007.

Zeke had many hobbies; among them he enjoyed fishing, golfing, woodworking, gardening and making "Zeke's salsa." He loved his time and travels with his family and friends. Zeke was a member of Riverside VFW Post 6414.

He will be dearly missed by many.

Survivors include his wife, Beth of Iowa City; their two children, Amanda Van Zee (Craig Zimmerman), and their children, Mia, Macy and Ian Zimmerman, all of Downers Grove, Ill., and Peter Van Zee (Carmen Tillman) of North Liberty; two sisters, Dorothy (Dr. Kenneth) Monsma of Pella and Marlene (Dr. Charles) Veenstra of Sioux Center; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Zeke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Merwin.

Zeke's family would like to extend their appreciation to the Holden Cancer Center staff and to the staff at Briarwood Health Care Center for the wonderful care they provided to Zeke.

Online condolences may be left for the family at www.lensingfuneral.com.