On a sunny, cold March day, I was in the very warm and calming company of Fred & Louise Simon, who have lived at 4477 Churchill Street since 1979. They moved to Shoreview after living in Roseville for 23 years. Fred was still working as a purchasing agent and warehouse manager for Gilgosch & Kane, where he worked for 23 years until his retirement in 1981.
Fred & Louise met when they were still in high school; she at Central High and Fred at the old Mechanic Arts High School of St Paul. Fred was at the local park skating rink, playing hockey with his friends, when Louise and her friend, Muriel showed up. Fred remembers that Louise was wearing a maroon snowsuit. They met again a week later at a local skating rink, and that was the beginning of what grew into 67 years of marriage, which will be this June 27th.
Fred even remembered what Louise gave him the first Christmas they were dating: a tennis racket. He also remembered the gift he gave her: a cashmere sweater and scarf. His mother taught knitting and she knit the two pieces for Louise from Fred. I think Fred’s mother liked Louise right from the start.
After marrying in 1942, Fred enlisted in the navy a year later and served two years, most of which was in Newfoundland. He was working at Montgomery Ward at the time of his enlistment, as was Louise. They moved to California after one son was born and had the other son in Anaheim while they were living in Santa Ana. They moved to California to escape the winters and to live near Fred’s parents. After six years, they came back to Minnesota and built a home in Roseville.
Their oldest son, Stephen Karl Simon, was killed when he was 16 years old by a drunk driver, a loss that has stayed with them always. Their son, Paul John Simon, was born in 1951 in Anaheim and today lives in Maplewood and is the father of three children, ages 26, 24, and 23. Paul is an auto body mechanic.
When Fred came home from the Navy, he worked as an office manager for Zinsmaster Bread Company until they moved to California, where he sold life insurance for Prudential Insurance Company. His return to MN lead him to his last job before retirement at Gilgosch & Kane Food Distributors. Fred is fortunate to have been retired for 28 years.
Louise stayed home and raised her sons, but before she and Fred married, she sold stadium seat cushions at the St. Paul Saints games for twenty five cents, back when the stadium was on Dunlop and University Avenues in St. Paul.
After marrying Fred, and while raising her boys, Louise enjoyed many hands of bridge; golfing and fishing with Fred, and she has an amazing collection of rare and limited edition Hummels. Included in her collection are 16” Hummel dolls. She also got into ceramics and has several of her “works of art” in their home. One of her favorite pieces is a lion that stands about 24” tall, whom she affectionately named, “George, the Lion” after Fred, whose middle name is George.
Fred used to play bridge, but loves golf and fishing. They spent 13 years “up north” in the summer for two weeks outside Onamia, MN, on Farm Island Lake, renting a cabin, where they fished and golfed to their hearts content.
In retirement, they have traveled the entire contiguous United States and have been to Hawaii, but not to Alaska. They spent February and March for 13 years in Bullhead, Arizona, where they golfed and entertained family and friends until returning home each April. They loved going to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon with those guests and that area has been their favorite place in the United States.
In their travels, they were typical tourists in what they sought out to see, but especially anything ‘presidential’ or “inventors”. They feel they have seen it all!
Fred had three brothers and one sister, Louise comes from a family of 4 girls and 4 boys,one a twin brother, Louis, who still lives in St. Paul. Fred has been the manager of the Chomonix Senior Men’s Golf League for the past 18 years in Lino Lakes. They play golf 20 weeks a summer and Fred is eager to get the season started.
What may surprise you about Fred is that for years he collected painted Easter eggs and his mother taught him how to knit long before men discovered it in the late 1990’s. Fred is now serving his 23rd year on the Lake Ridge Home Owners Association Board and is dedicated to learning “Vista” on his new laptop! He is an asset to our community and he and Louise exemplify what a marriage should be. They are charter members of St. Odilia Catholic Church in Shoreview.
I hope you all take the opportunity to meet Fred & Louise Simon in the very near future. Susan Anderson