Emmie Zachau

On Sunday July 5, 2020, Emmie Lavinia Daniels Zachau, loving wife and mother of three children, passed away at the age of 87.

Emmie was born in Hopkins, South Carolina on September 14, 1932 to Abel Alphaeus Daniels and Elizabeth Owens Daniels. Emmie was raised with a brother, Abel “Al” Alphaeus Daniels, Jr. and sister, Caroline Daniels. Emmie was a very bright woman, graduating valedictorian of her high school class (Lower Richland High School). Emmie worked for the Southern Bell Telephone Company in Columbia, South Carolina where she met a GI named Doug Zachau from New Jersey, stationed at Fort Jackson. Doug and Emmie married on December 2, 1954 at the First Baptist Church in Columbia and moved “up North” where they have made their journey through marriage and life together over the last 65 and ½ years. Emmie and Doug raised a daughter, Beth, and two sons, Geoffrey and David. Emmie also worked as a receptionist at the Paoli Hospital during the 1990’s.

Emmie was a voracious reader, a lover of all animals, a lover of gardening, had a Southern flair to her home decorating, and was a strong believer in her Christian faith. She valued education and family, raising her children with a special emphasis on the value of hard work and reaching the goals one sets. Being a child raised by Doug and Emmie was to feel the love of your parents. A child could not have had a more devoted and caring mother. Emmie, a lover of genealogy, wrote the following to her children in an essay on our family history: “I love each of you and your spouses very much. And also your children. Each of you has been a blessing to Doug and I and we would not have it any other way.” -October 02, 2012

Emmie was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Al and her sister Caroline. She is survived by her husband Louis “Doug” Douglas Zachau, Jr., her daughter Beth, her sons Geoffrey and David, her grand-daughters Christina, Jennifer, Jessica, Molly, Brandi, her grand-son Alex, and great-grand son Jayson.

Relatives & friends are invited to Emmie’s Visitation 1:00-2:00 PM, Thursday, July 9, 2020 at The Donohue Funeral Home, 366 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne, PA followed by a Private Interment at Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge. For those attending visitation, we ask that you please follow CDC Guidelines by wearing a mask and continue to practice social distancing.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Emmie’s name may be made to the Montgomery County SPCA, 19 E. Ridge Pike, P.O. Box 222, Conshohocken, PA 19428, https://www.montgomerycountyspca.org/ .