George Clooney mourns big sister Adelia Zeidler, dead at 65
George Clooney said he was mourning his “hero” older sister, Adelia “Ada” Zeidler, who died Friday. She was 65 years old.
Zeidler died of cancer, her younger brother told People.
“My sister, Ada, was my hero,” Clooney told the outlet in an exclusive interview. “She faced cancer with courage and humor. I have never met anyone so courageous. We and Amal will miss her terribly.”
Zeidler “passed away peacefully surrounded by the people she loved” at St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky, according to her obituary.
The siblings remained close through the years, even though Clooney’s high-flying, award-winning life in Hollywood took him far from Augusta, Kentucky, where the couple grew up. Zeidler chose to stay near her hometown after attending the University of Louisville and Northern Kentucky, and married retired Army Captain Norman Zeidler in 1987.
Although Zeidler at one point considered becoming an actress, which she said she “enjoyed” and “was pretty good about,” she ultimately realized that “I didn’t have thick enough skin for that,” she told the Daily News in a 2012 interview. She instead became an accountant.
“I worked at Toys ‘R’ Us and Kohl’s,” she told The News. “I enjoyed it, but mostly it was a way to get money to go home and pay the rent and that sort of thing. I really enjoyed being a wife and a mother, and that sort of thing ended up taking over for me.”
At one point, Zeidler led Augusta’s annual White Christmas Parade as grand marshal, his obituary notes. The “talented artist” was a passionate volunteer who worked for several years as an elementary art teacher in Augusta independent schools and who belonged to the Augusta Art Guild. She also shared her love of books and reading by volunteering in the school library.
“Augusta Independent deeply mourns the loss of ‘Miss Ada,’” the school system said in a statement. “She spent years volunteering for our school district, especially at the library, and was extremely generous with her time giving countless hours back to the youth of our community. We send our thoughts and prayers to the Zeidler and Clooney families during this difficult time.”
Zeidler survived her husband, who died of a heart attack in 2004 at the age of 47. Adelia Zeidler is survived by her parents Nick Clooney and Nina Bruce Warren; children Nick Zeidler and Allison Zeidler Herolaga and her husband, Kenny; George and Amal Clooney, along with numerous uncles, aunts and cousins, his obituary states.
