Martha Sue Zink

October 24, 1952 — March 28, 2024

Sheffield Village

Martha ("Marty") Sue Zink (1952-2024) was a beloved widow (of Robert), mother (of Andrew), and breast cancer survivor who spent a substantial part of her life volunteering for and working for the benefit of others. She had a solid "thinking of others first" ethic instilled by her adoptive mother, Virnelle, a former social worker. Adopted as a child by Virnelle and Fred Voss, she strongly believed that her "real parents" were those who adopted her and cared for her throughout her youth.

Born and raised in Monroe, Michigan, she had a lifelong interest in General George Armstrong Custer, who shared the same birthplace, and in 2017, she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by visiting the site of The Battle of the Little Bighorn in Montana. That trip was one of many, many trips she was able to take in her life, including visiting Toronto, Barbados, London, Barcelona, Paris, and Sydney. In fact, she was doing early planning for multiple trips this summer; even as her physical health deteriorated, she worked hard to find accessible travel accommodations. She also did local road trips as part of years of volunteering for NCN Racing in Lorain County, Ohio, and beyond, including creating and running their first web site for many years as part of a small home business in the early days of the world-wide web.

Part of her travel also included several years of performing, and for a time coordinating, volunteer animal transport, helping ensure that dogs, cats, and once even a pig (yes, a pig!) were transported to new, loving "furever" homes. That volunteer animal transport work was part of her lifelong dedication to the protection of animals at risk and in need. As all of her closest in-person and online friends can attest, she was always looking for ways to help financially (over $2000 in 2024 alone), physically, or emotionally, and had many pet dogs and cats (well over a dozen - at one time five at once!) over her life. She especially worked very strongly at protecting animals that were attacked or hated for what they were, rather than who they were; this most strongly showed itself in her vocal support for dog bully breeds.

When it came to her son, Andrew, there was no limit to what she was willing to do. Whether this was serving on the Knollwood PTA in Sheffield Lake, Ohio, or volunteering in the library and helping rebuild it essentially from scratch, or traveling all over Ohio and beyond to hockey tournaments, she was the epitome of a dedicated, helpful mother. Her husband worked for decades as a ship engineer on Lake Erie, away for 8 months a year, so she often was doing this as essentially a single mother. She also often was there for her nephew, Craig, in his times of need.

Towards the end of her life, she took a strong interest in home style and decor, and as a result had decorated every room in her house — including some that she was no longer able to directly see in person — in gorgeous, modern styles that showed she had a personal sense of what's modern and current, yet timeless and gorgeous. This included a lot of Queen-related merchandise (records, books) tastefully displayed in the home; her extreme Queen fandom included visiting Freddie Mercury's famous "home door" in London when traveling, fulfilling a lifelong dream to connect with the singer.

Marty passed away peacefully in her sleep, and is survived by her son, her nephew, and her two brothers, Fred and Charlie. In lieu of a service, Marty asked for donations to be made in her memory to a local bully breed charity, or to the Friendship Animal Protective League of Lorain County, Ohio.

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Martha Sue Zink

October 24, 1952 — March 28, 2024

Sheffield Village

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