Ingeborg Thordis "Teddy" Zagona's Obituary
Ingeborg Thordis (“Teddy”) Zagona peacefully ended a full and beautiful life on June 6, 2016 at age 99. She was born September 15, 1916 to Tillie and Sven Aas, Norwegian immigrant homesteaders and educators, and grew up in the small farming town of Fertile, Minnesota. After graduating from Fertile High School, Thordis (as she was known to family and friends) attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota in 1939. Following in her parents’ footsteps, she taught school in small hardscrabble farming and mining towns such as Borup and Crosby, Minnesota, to children of immigrants from northern and eastern Europe. She claimed to have learned as much from these students as she taught them.
During World War II, she joined the Navy WAVES and served at the Pensacola Naval Air Training Center as a Link training simulator instructor; here also she adopted the name “Teddy,” as she was known from then on. In 1946, after her discharge from the Navy, she moved to Tucson to teach at Roskruge Jr. High School and to begin graduate studies in English Literature at the University of Arizona where she met Salvatore Zagona, a recent transplant from Brooklyn, New York. They were married on June 2, 1948.
Teddy and Sal raised six children while Sal worked on graduate degrees and became a professor of psychology at the U of A; and at the same time, they ran the family business, Caruso’s Restaurant, which remains in the family to this day. This was an intensely busy time for Teddy, juggling business duties such as ordering supplies, bookkeeping, banking and payroll with providing delicious meals for 6 kids and many of their friends, driving to every possible activity and lesson, reading stories, teaching her children to cook and sew, attending PTA, shopping – all done with patience and grace.
When the children went to college and beyond, Teddy returned to graduate studies, this time pursuing her passions for Middle Eastern history, languages and archeology. She also studied Italian in Florence and joined an archeological dig in southern Italy during which she discovered a notable Roman engraved stone, now in an Italian museum. In her later years, Teddy continued to travel and read extensively and to attend lectures, symphonies and plays. She and Sal patronized a range of organizations that reflected their values and interests, including the Tucson Symphony, the Arizona Historical Society, the Nature Conservancy and the Salvation Army. Teddy was an active and enthusiastic member for many years of the Desert Waves, the local chapter of the Navy Women Veterans organization. Into her 100th year, Teddy still most loved to be surrounded by her family, discussing books, sports, history, music or stories of her past. Her family misses her cheerful, witty and loving presence.
Teddy is survived by her husband of 68 years, Salvatore Zagona, her children Helen Zagona of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Edith Zagona (Joseph Prizio) of Boulder, Colorado, Karen Zagona (Heles Contreras) of Seattle, Washington, Salvatore Zagona Jr., Miriam Zagona (Robert MacLaughlin) and Eric Zagona of Tucson. She is also survived by grandchildren Caterina Zagona-Prizio and Eugene Zagona, and many loving nieces and nephews and their children. She was preceded in death by her brother Herbert Aas of Hartford, Connecticut and sister Miriam Johnson of Pasadena, California.
The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the staff at Banner Hospital ICU for the excellent and compassionate care during her brief illness, and to the staff and volunteers at Peppi’s House Hospice for the gentle care and peaceful space in her final days.
Private services and burial were held at Evergreen Cemetery, Tucson. Memories and condolences may be left at (Evergreen web site). A celebration of her life will be held on her 100th birthday, details to follow.
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