Jen Tritle (1975-2022)

TRITLE, ZOOK, YODER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 3/28/2022 at 09:30:51

Our beloved daughter, sister, aunt and friend, Jen (Zook) Tritle, passed away unexpectedly on March 21, 2022.

Jennifer Louise Zook was born in Deschapelles, Haiti on Dec 30, 1975, the second child to Donald and Verna Zook.

She grew up on her family's farm in rural Sharon Center, attending Washington Township Elementary and Mid Prairie Junior High before graduating from Iowa Mennonite School in 1994.

After a year at Eastern Mennonite University and a semester in Guatemala, she came back to Iowa and spent the rest of her adult life in the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area.

Jen loved deeply and completely. She was a fierce protector of her family and friends; to be loved by her was to be a recipient of her loyalty, her generosity, and her empathy. She understood people's struggles and felt their emotions with them; she believed that there is no one so damaged that they can’t be rescued with love and lived that out in very practical ways, taking in cats and dogs that were marked as unwanted. Her open and vulnerable heart was easily broken but she always found the internal resources to love and rescue again.

That love and loyalty extended even to her employment. She was devoted to her work, regardless of the task. For many years she worked at the Can Shed in Coralville and then Cedar Rapids. She received a BA in Accounting from Kaplan University in 2012 and eventually found her way to the Business Office at Cedar Memorial where she flourished. She also extended her financial acumen and customer service skills to TaxAct during the tax filing season.

Jen considered Cedar Memorial her forever home, where she found another family who welcomed her skills and celebrated her person. She took great pride in a job well done and worked even harder for those that recognized her abilities.

She was quick to sadness, quick to joy; laughed at bad dad jokes; cried during Disney movies and dog movies and sentimental movies; was a voracious reader of romantic historical fiction and current events; always ordered an appetizer; heartily enjoyed a good TV crime series; never got tired of reading and watching Harry Potter and Hunger Games; distrusted inauthenticity; and appreciated a really good cheese.

The list of what she adored is long but at the top were her two nieces, Marguerite and Eleanor Yoder Zook. In addition, she leaves her parents, Donald and Verna, her older sister LeAnne, her younger sister Kathleen, her brother Kevin, her brother-in-law Scott Yoder, her sister-in-law Kara Westerbeek, her co-workers and her friends, her cousins, aunts and uncles -- all who will miss her deeply.

Preceding her in death were her grandparents Vernon and Marguerite Zook, and Albert and Mary Klaassen, five dogs and numerous cats who she loved as unconditionally as they loved her.

Services will be held on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories in Cedar Rapids. Visitation begins at 10 AM followed by a Celebration of Jen’s Life at 11 AM. A livestream of the funeral service may be accessed on the funeral home website under the obituary for Jen (Zook) Tritle, under the video tab starting at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, April 6, 2022.

An additional time of remembrance will be held at East Union Mennonite Church in rural Kalona on Thursday, April 7, 2022 with a light meal beginning at 5:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, memorials in her name can be directed to Dogs Forever (www.dogsforever.org), Planned Parenthood North Central States (www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-north-central-states), or Hospital Albert Schweitzer (HAShaiti.org).