“My sister, Ada, was my hero.” These words by George Clooney capture the essence of a woman like Adelia “Ada” Zeidler, who, in her 65 years of life, had lived life to its fullest and even showed complete fearlessness in fighting cancer till her last breath on December 19 at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Augusta, Kentucky.
Born in May 1960 to Nick and Nina Clooney, Ada Addie Clooney was raised with George in the small river town of Augusta, which influenced their values and their relationship in important ways. While her young brother was headed for Hollywood heights, Ada took a less glamorous route, one that was connected to art, learning, and giving back to her communities. Ada was a gifted artist and taught elementary school art at Augusta Independent Schools for several years before moving to Northern California to teach high school levels at Junipero Serra High School in Tamalpais Homos for eleven years, according to her obituary.
Her commitment to and dedication to Augusta Independent Schools went beyond her time in front of a class and in their hallways and classrooms, with endless hours volunteered at their school library, where she was given the fond nickname “Miss Ada” by both her pupils and fellow educators. Additionally, Ada was a gifted artist and originally a high school and university level high school English and Drama teacher in Northern California and is recognized as a National Merit scholar with a love for reading that translated into a local book club involvement.
Her contributions weren’t limited to the four walls of the classroom. Ada was active in the Augusta Art Guild and had once served as grand marshal of the Annual White Christmas Parade in the town of Augusta, which spoke volumes about how she was also very traditional in the town she came to love. Her community remembers Ada as one who gave liberally of time and talent to uplift it.
Although she stayed out of the limelight, she and her brother George remained extraordinarily close. As George told an interviewer as far back as 2015, “My sister, I’m very close to.” He also had her standing beside him when he married Amal Clooney in the very posh wedding back in 2014. Her life was one of being dedicated to the family and putting her children, Nick Zeidler and Allison Zeidler Herolaga, first over acting: “I really enjoyed being a wife and a mother and that kind of wound up taking precedence with me.” she said in an interview she gave the New York Daily News back in 2012.
Ada was not without heartaches in her life. She was pre-deceased by her husband, Norman Zeidler, in 2004. Even in death, however, she was the graceful woman she had been in the final battle she fought through cancer. George’s tribute was appreciation for the strength Ada had shown in life. But one thing George did not capture was the humor she had in life.
Ada’s story is also a strong inspiration for other families facing a similar experience of loss. A sibling lost to cancer can’t be measured since it is a void, but according to advice from some cancer support groups, it is important that the grief be acknowledged with remembrance of the lost. Celebrating the life they had, lessons they provided, and laughter they created may be a great way of turning grief into something positive and moving forward.
Art, too, might serve as a comfort in times of loss. The process of making art-visual, written, and musical-has been proven to help those suffering through grief by creating a way to express something that cannot necessarily be put into words. Artistically, art was not just something that Ada did, but something that she lived, and to carry that forward might serve as a tribute to her life.
Ada’s funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Maysville on December 22nd, with private interment to follow at St. Patrick Cemetery in Washington, Kentucky. She is preceded in death by her children, Allison’s husband Kenny, her brother George and his wife Amal, and many extended family relations.
Ultimately, it is not the sickness that Ada Zeidler succumbed to in her passing, but it is instead the amount of love that she expressed, artwork that she shared with the world, and the amount of strength she exhibited in her life. For George Clooney, her memory will always be a beacon in his life. It will trace back to family and to the power of sisterly love.
