Deanna Mae Zieske came into this world with a bang on June 4, 1942, the day of the World War II Battle of Midway. By the time of her passing, she had made a significant impact on her community and on everyone who knew her. Her smile, warmth, good humor, energy and ease of conversation were infectious.
Deanna was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, to David W. and Mary E. Tarbet, just one of a host of red-headed members of an extended Scotch and Irish family.
From her youth, she was recognized and embraced by her peers as a natural leader, serving as elementary school class president every other year and as a cheerleader and homecoming queen at Bentley High School in Livonia, Michigan. Early on, her teachers recognized Deanna’s potential and one even offered to pay her way to attend college.
While very much interested in higher education, young love stepped in and Deanna married her high school beau, Carl Lietzow, not long after graduating high school. He was serving on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier based out of San Francisco and Deanna went with him to the West Coast where she lived by herself in a small apartment near Fisherman’s Wharf for nearly a year while he was deployed on an extended cruise.
Upon returning to Livonia, Deanna went to work for Zantop’s Airlines at Detroit Metro Airport where she was able to cultivate what has been a lifelong love of aircraft. She worked at Zantop’s during and then after her pregnancy with her first child, Kelly. Management at Zantop’s soon recognized Deanna’s skill with people, her leadership and her attention to detail, placing her in charge of keeping all its aircraft maintenance and flight operations records — this at a time before computers, when such records were manually kept.
Daughter Kelly was born on July 2, 1964. Soon after Kelly’s birth, Deanna learned that Kelly had been born with a developmental disability. Doctors informed Deanna that because of Kelly’s disability, Kelly should be placed in a public institution, saying that Kelly would be too much of a burden living at home. Being both bright and offended by the doctor’s recommendation, Deanna rejected the doctor’s advice and was determined to keep Kelly at home and to find ways to allow Kelly to have as normal and full a life as possible. That is precisely what she did.
Deanna’s second daughter, Katie, was born on Feb. 22, 1964. A precocious and very intelligent child, Katie has gone on to complete her own college education and hold very responsible positions in the health care insurance industry.
When her girls were about ages 13 and 9 years, Deanna and Carl divorced. In the interim, Deanna had provided virtually all of the care for her girls as he worked nights. Simultaneously, Deanna was taking college classes and seeking programs that would help Kelly’s development. Deanna organized other parents who had children with developmental disabilities in establishing the Association for Retarded Citizens in Livingston County, Michigan.
For nearly 10 years, Deanna raised her girls as a single parent with very little financial help from their father. During this time, she became the part time executive director for the Livingston County Association for Retarded Citizens, helped form the parents association for the nearby Hillcrest Center, an institution for persons with mental retardation in Livingston County, and also became its part time executive director.
This amazing woman, still without a college degree, led the parents and volunteer members of the Livingston Association for Retarded Citizens in filing and subsequently winning a complaint under federal rehabilitation laws that resulted in the Livingston School District being compelled to integrate handicapped children into public school classrooms. As a result, her daughter Kelly and others like Kelly began receiving special education services within the public schools and were able to leave the confines of church basements to which they had previously been relegated.
But this amazing woman did more, leading the efforts by parents and staff at the Hillcrest Center, an institutional facility in Howell, Michigan, to transfer residents from Hillcrest into community-based programs and return to their families. Those efforts resulted in the closure of the Hillcrest Center.
In 1977, Deanna was selected as a delegate from Michigan to the White House Conference on the Handicapped, an initiative by President Jimmy Carter to bring together persons with disabilities, their families and their advocates. President Carter charged those delegates with making recommendations to the federal government about future policies and programs for persons with developmental disabilities.
Not long after the White House Conference, Deanna was hired by the Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service to become that agency’s Southeast Michigan regional director. There she was responsible for promoting advocacy services for persons with developmental disabilities throughout that highly populated area of Michigan.
In the spring of 1981, Deanna was hired by the Tri County Association for Retarded Citizens as its executive director. Now located in Suffolk, Virginia, Deanna managed a number of direct service programs as well as a summer camp for persons with developmental disabilities.
In that capacity, she was asked by her U.S. congressman, Norman Sisisky, to testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee investigating the problems that low income and disabled people were experiencing in obtaining and retaining Social Security benefits. Her testimony was published in the Congressional Record.
Deanna married the love of her life, Lewis Zieske, on May 12, 1984, in Williamsburg, Virginia, where they resided until the spring of 1986. While in Williamsburg, the Zieskes hosted an American Field Service student, Niklaas Hoekstra. Niklaas, who was from the Netherlands, lived in their home for 10 months while attending high school in the U.S. They still kept in touch more than 35 years later.
Deanna and her family moved to Port Orchard, Washington, in 1986 so that Lew could attend law school and Deanna could pursue her own college degree. She enrolled at Fort Steilacoom Community College (now Pierce College) where she completed an associate degree in paralegal studies while also working full time for a large law firm in Seattle. At the same time, she served as the director for the Kitsap County Special Olympics.
On moving to Chehalis in February 1990, Deanna enrolled at Evergreen State College where she completed her bachelor’s degree in political science. She also joined her husband as paralegal in his law office, served as a guardian ad litem in family law cases for several years and soon became active in the Lewis County community.
She served as a member of the session at Westminster Presbyterian Church and jumped headlong into local politics. During four years as chair of the Lewis County Democratic Central Committee, Deanna increased by more than four-fold the number of persons serving as local precinct committee persons. She was also elected vice chair of the Washington State Democrats organization of county and legislative district party central committee chairs.
Local land use planning also became a focus of her attention. Deanna became a founding member and president of Lewis County Watch, a bipartisan group of citizens striving to make sure that the Lewis County Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners abided by the requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act. The group’s multi-talented members participated in Growth Management Board deliberations and contested disputes over the county’s proposed growth management plan. Dubbed “the dirty dozen” by their critics, Lewis County Watch initiated at least three separate lawsuits that were decided by Division II of the Washington State Court of Appeals and one that was decided by the Washington State Supreme Court.
But Deanna was not just politically active in Lewis County. She was also a neighborhood booster and active in supporting victims of domestic violence. She organized and served for two decades as president of the Westside Chehalis Neighborhood Association. That organization became well known for its historic holiday home tours to raise money for neighborhood improvements. Among its accomplishments were purchasing and placing the sign recognizing the historic west side that you see at the intersection of West Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the purchase and planting of the Japanese Maple trees in Westside Park and the restoration and placement of several historic street lights in the westside neighborhood.
Ever energetic, Deanna also held several significant fundraisers in her home to raise funds in support of the Human Response Network in providing services for victims of domestic violence.
Deanna is survived by her husband, Lewis Zieske; her daughters, Kelly Lietzow, who resides in the family home, Katie Rogers, who resides in Tacoma, Washington, and Kimberly Lesniak, who resides with her husband Timothy in Houston, Texas; and her brother, Duane Tarbet, of Pinckney, Michigan.
A memorial service is planned for Deanna at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, to be followed by interment at Haven of Rest Cemetery in Gig Harbor, Washington.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Deanna’s name to the Chehalis Food Bank, the Lewis County Animal Shelter or the charity of your choice.
