Biography

Luella Reiter Zmolek was born in 1923 on a farm twelve miles from Waterloo, Iowa. She attended Catholic elementary school and Eagle Center High School before enrolling in a nine-month course at Gates Business College in Waterloo and working as a secretary. She married Eagle Center farmer Donald Zmolek in 1945 and raised six children while renting farms near the Zmolek farmily farm and purchasing a farm of their own. For ten years, they developed a purebred Angus cattle herd. When Donald Zmolek began work at Rath Packing Company in Waterloo, Luella took over chores with the cattle. After several years, Donald Zmolek quit working at Rath to resume farming and child-rearing while Luella took a full time job as a secretary at Viking Pump. While at Rath Packing Company, Donald and Luella joined the National Farmers’ Organization (NFO). Their early and enthusiastic participation soon made Donald Zmolek an organizer—first in Black Hawk County and then in a tri-state region while Luella served as secretary of the Black Hawk County NFO. In 1960, Donald Zmolek accepted a full-time job at the NFO headquarters in Corning, Iowa, living weekdays in Corning and returning to their farm on weekends. During this period, the Zmoleks sold their cattle and abandoned farming; Luella began work at Price Laboratory of the University of Northern Iowa, a job she did retired from in 1988. At age 58, Donald Zmolek retired from the NFO office several years after suffering a serious heart attack. Both became active with anti-war and peace movements in Cedar Falls.

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