Sinclair Adams Ziesing

June 1, 1929 - December 3, 2019

Maude Sinclair Adams Ziesing, of Bryn Mawr, passed away December 3rd at the age of 90 in the Beaumont Health Center, of complications from a stroke. Sis, as she was known to her friends, had rallied from the stroke two weeks before and made substantial progress toward rehabilitation, but in the last two days the complications were too much to overcome. She did have a good week though and was able to spend quality time with family and old friends, for which we are all grateful. Sis was born in New York City on June 1st, 1929, to William Adams, Jr., and Grace (Raymond) Adams. She lived as a child in Hewlett on the south shore of Long Island, New York, in a house built by her paternal grandfather, William Adams. She was the second of three children, with her older brother Bill and her younger brother Peter.  Sis attended the local elementary school in Lawrence, Long Island. When she was 13 her family moved to Sarasota, Florida, for the winters where Sis attended the Out-Of-Door School, a progressive educational institution established in 1924. Classes and free time were spent outside on the school’s campus on Siesta Key. Sis often recounted funny stories of how the children being taught were distracted by the bugs, snakes, and other Florida wildlife as they sat on the lawn receiving the lessons. From there, she attended high school at Rosemary Hall, a boarding school for girls in Greenwich, Connecticut, from which she graduated in 1947.    After Rosemary Hall, Sis went to New York City where she worked as a medical technician. She proudly remembered her job in the office of Dr. Richard Lewisohn, who famously developed an experimental cancer treatment that he tested (unsuccessfully) on Babe Ruth. In her recounting she practiced giving shots on an orange and delivered lab samples and sometimes body parts(!).  It was in the city in 1949 that she met her future soulmate Robert (Bob, known to many as “Zies”) Ziesing through a mutual friend. Sis and Bob were married on December 10th, 1949, in St. George Church in New York City and enjoyed 62 happy and fruitful years together. Bob was a metallurgist, Sis became a homemaker, and together they raised five children. They lived for a year in Cleveland, Ohio, before settling in a tiny house with the kids on Homestead Road in Strafford, then later in two St. Davids houses. In 2005 Sis and Bob moved to the Beaumont Retirement Community in Bryn Mawr, where they joined some old friends and made many new ones. In the early years of their marriage they spent summers in Beach Haven, New Jersey, where Bob’s parents had a house. In 1963 they changed their summer retreat to the mountains in Sandwich, New Hampshire, to a historic, rambling “camp” on Squam Lake that is still a gathering place for the family. After Bob’s retirement in 1987, Sis and Bob were able to travel to countries all over the world, including China, Egypt, Australia, South America, the South Pacific, and Europe. Sis had many interests and numerous dear friends and was an active and optimistic person. To all who knew her she was gracious, kind, loyal, and generous. She loved animals and always had pets in her life (the occasional cat and many dogs: scotties, dachshunds, and, most beloved of all, a long line of pugs). She was a longtime docent at the Philadelphia Zoo, for 25 years starting in 1980. She was especially proud of her work for the Zoo’s Links program, teaching about endangered species and habitats to local schoolchildren. When her children were young she was a member of Junior League and played parts in the children’s theater, most memorably as the beast in “Beauty and the Beast” (much to her children’s delight and amazement!). Sis loved flowers and always had gardens. She was a longtime member and past President of the Seed and Weed garden club, which exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show for several years. She was an avid racquet sports player (tennis and paddle tennis) until her 60s, and later took up golf to play with Bob on the many golf trips and outings they did together. Probably Sis’s proudest accomplishment was her prowess in bridge. She played most of her adult life, both socially and competitively, and was devoted to the game. Any children or family dropping in from out of town in her later years knew not to expect her to change her Bridge schedule! In 1977 she went on a cruise with her mother and two daughters, the highlight of which was the presence of Easley Blackwood, Sr., the originator of the “Blackwood Convention” for bidding in bridge, best known to bridge aficionados. Sis played on the first team at the Merion Cricket Club for many years and won the Ladies Bridge Championship eight times, the last of which was in 2019 at age 89. As Sis got older she missed the friends and family she had survived, but she had the good fortune to live independently until the last two weeks of her life. She overcame other significant health challenges in her last years with the same stoic and uncomplaining manner that she always had. She was predeceased by her husband, Bob, her parents, and her brothers Bill and Peter. She is survived by her five children Lissy (Greg Sheehy) of La Crescenta, California; Gus (Emily Ryan) of Burlington, Vermont; Cindy (Chris Schoenberg) of Horsham, Pennsylvania; Peter (Jo Ziesing) of New Canaan, Connecticut; and Grace (Mark Knight) of St. Davids, Pennsylvania. She is also survived by her six grandchildren, Lee, Annie, and Will Ziesing; Ed and Kathleen Sheehy; and Emery Schoenberg, and also many much loved nieces and nephews on both the Adams and Ziesing sides of the family. A memorial service will be held at Beaumont Retirement Community in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, on Friday, December 27th in the Music Room at 3 pm. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution in her memory to the Philadelphia Zoo (General Fund or Community Access Program), 3400 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19104.