Heather Denise Zir
October 12, 1969 - April 7, 2005

This Memoir was created with love by Ali & jen bye. Please remember Heather today as her new journey continues.

"Pilia's Birds" (Hi Quality Windows Media File)
"Pilia's Birds" (Lo Quality Windows Media File)



Still River Shine

Still rivers shine
a reflection smooth like glass.
Silence breaks the ice,
your surface melts at last.

Cold waters roll,
warm in daylight's sun,
and what was once frozen
is now free to run.

-Heather Zir

A memorial gathering was held Sunday, May 1, 2005 at Molly Malone's in Los Angeles.

ZIR, Heather Denise, (35) (website)
Died on April 7, 2005 in Santa Cruz, California from complications caused by an automobile accident in 2002. Heather was born in La Jolla, California and lived in New York, and Virginia before spending her middle childhood and adolescent years in Sherborn, Massachusetts. She graduated from Dover-Sherborn High School in 1987 and returned to California to attend the University of the Pacific in Stockton from which she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1991. She was an accomplished athlete in ice skating, field hockey and skiing and loved hiking, camping, and biking and the Sacramento Kings basketball team. She worked as a director for a day care center for children in Santa Cruz for several years then moved to Los Angeles to pursue her true passions of music and poetry. Heather performed her original compositions in many venues in the L.A. area, playing guitar, piano and conga drum. She wrote and recorded her first CD ("Undefined") there. She also published a book of her poems and was awarded the "Editor's Choice Award" by the International Library of Poetry. She also enjoyed creating collage art and had several exhibits in Venice Beach and Santa Monica, California. Heather's love of animals was widely known and she most recently campaigned against the declawing of cats and advocated for shelter adoptions.

Heather's memorial service was held at her favorite beach in Santa Cruz, California and her cremated remains were gently placed to rest into the Pacific Ocean. Additional memorial services will be held in Los Angeles, California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts in the coming weeks.

Heather is survived by her parents, Dr. Leonard and Rosemary (Kostelac) Zir of Sherborn Massachusetts; her sister Hilary Hearty and husband Alan; her sister Lindsay Zir both of Los Angeles, California and her beloved cat Luis. She also leaves behind her grandfather Frank Kostelac, uncle Thomas Kostelac and several cousins in Pennsylvania, her uncle Stan Zir in New York and her aunt Diana Rosen in New Jersey along with many friends across the country.

Donations can be made in Heather's memory to the Santa Cruz SPCA, "Heather Zir Fund", 2260 7th Ave, Santa Cruz, California 95062. Additional funds to be established in Heather's memory are a bench in Henry Cowell Redwood State Park in Felton, California and a music scholarship for Inner-city children in Los Angeles.

Published in the Los Angeles Times on 4/15/2005.