Eileen Zahorik Dighton

Eileen Zahorik Dighton

Lisbon

Eileen Zahorik Dighton, 82, died peacefully in her sleep on December 8, 2024, at her brother’s home in Lisbon, Iowa. Stewart Baxter Funeral & Memorial Services, Mount Vernon, Iowa, is assisting the family with arrangements.

Eileen was known among her family and friends for her wit, humor, grace, good looks, generosity, and compassion. She was named for her Irish grandmother, Eileen Loftus, and resembled her in some ways. “She was a raconteur who told wonderful stories and had a memory for the telling detail,” said her favorite brother, Ralph Zahorik, author of this obituary.

Eileen was born in Chicago and raised in Iowa. Her parents, the late John and Sonya Zahorik, moved to Lisbon, Iowa, when Eileen was five years old. She was a 1960 graduate of Lisbon High School where she excelled in English, cheerleading, and basketball and won the Betty Crocker Homemaker of the Year Award.

Eileen was a voracious reader and a sometimes-intense follower of politics. She was a keen gambler, a master cribbage player, and an avid fan of the Chicago Cubs. She liked crossword puzzles and mysteries and most anything peculiar. She adored cats, dogs, and strays in general. She was known to physically remove dogs from abusive homes. Her house in Lisbon was, at times, a haven for her uncles, brothers, friends, and others who needed a place to stay or hide.

Eileen liked practical jokes, was an excellent mimic and a master of disguise who could impersonate anyone or invent her own characters. During Halloween, she once fooled a tavern full of acquaintances and later, her own mother, into believing Eileen was an obnoxious and aggressively flirtatious male soldier passing through town.

She was the hapless victim of some memorable pranks herself. Knowing Eileen didn’t like bees, her daughter Marey once hired a beekeeper impersonator, wearing full protective gear, to show up at her house with a humming hive for her birthday.

Eileen’s first husband, Roy “Rocky” Stone, was a high wire ironworker, whose specialty was water towers. She traveled the country with him for work for several years. Her second husband, Roy “R.G.” Dighton, a semi driver, and possibly the nicest man in the world, passed away in 1994.

Survivors include her daughter, Marey Stone (Brian Kobets) of Imperial Beach, California; grandson, Charley Kobets; stepson, Dustin Dighton (Angel) and their children Hannah, Cadence, and Holley; brothers, John, Frank, Robert (Marianne), and David Zahorik, all of Lisbon; sister, Karin Zahorik (Riyaz Fazal) of San Francisco; numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins; and her beloved cat Baby.

She is preceded in death by her parents, sister, Noel Johnson; and brothers Ralph Zahorik and Charles Zahorik.

“Eileen could have done anything,” said her brother Ralph. “She was a beauty and when she was younger, she loved getting dressed up for a night on the town. If she had run off to the big city and charmed some tycoon, we’d all be millionaires today. But sadly, my sis wasn’t that kind of girl.”

(A very special thanks to Hospice of Mercy, especially Karen Akar, who took incredible care of our sister.)