TJ Zeiler – 9/20/1946 – 4/29/2025
We are sad to share that longtime Songmaker TJ Zeiler has passed away. He was a tireless member of Songmakers, having been a hoot leader, newsletter and calendar editor and one of our biggest recruiters of new members. He will be missed.
Obituary from the Ventura County Star:
Terry (TJ) John Zeiler was born in Baltimore, MD on September 20, 1946, and passed on to Heaven on April 29, 2025, from a combination of Alzheimer’s and diabetes. His parents were Helen (Kaufmann) and John Zeiler, and he grew up in Baltimore, MD.
He became fascinated with submarines after watching the movie, Run Silent, Run Deep, and enlisted in the Navy at the age of 19. He spent three years alternating between shore duty and 3-month underwater deployments aboard the USS Madison as a radioman. He then was accepted in the Navy NESEP program and attended the University of Oklahoma while still on active duty. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in meteorological engineering in 1974. His next duty station was as a Naval Flight Officer (Navigator) out of Jacksonville, Florida navigating P-3 Orions as they chased Russian submarines in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As a lieutenant, he changed course and became the head of the NAS Lemoore Counseling and Assistance Center (CAAC) for drug and alcohol abuse.
While in Lemoore, he met, and married Sue Shaner Keith and they combined families. Three years after arriving in Lemoore, he was on his way to Point Mugu with the enlarged family. He joined VXE-6 squadron and headed to Antarctica as a flight navigator on C-130s. He used readings from the sun and the stars to guide the planes between Christchurch, NZ and Antarctica as the squadron delivered supplies for the National Science Foundation during the Antarctic summer.
After leaving the Navy in 1986, he worked in the defense industry as a Naval trainer and became an insurance agent. TJ loved mastering the land, air and sea on his Honda Goldwing, in his Cessna 172 and aboard his Aquarius sailboat. He was an avid bridge player and started several bridge groups. In retirement, he rediscovered his passion for music and joined Songmakers in 2000. He loved attending and hosting song circles and sharing his musical talents. He was a member of the band, Horseplay, and Nostalgic Duo, and he took his solo act, Music by TJ to retirement centers across California.
He will be truly missed by all that knew him, and he is survived by his wife of 44 years, Sue, children: Sherri (Greg), Terry John, Paul (Jenny) and Michelle (Vince), and eight grandchildren.
Services will be held on July 5, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at the Camarillo United Methodist Church, 291 Anacapa Dr., Camarillo. In lieu of flowers, please make some music in memory of him.
Here is TJ playing Rain Dancer at Songmakers Kenney Grove saturday night concert in July 2017 with Gordon Roberts, Charletta Erb and Rick Cohen.
Photos from TJ’s Memorial Service, July 5, 2025
