Obituary of Ann Margaret Simon

Ann Margaret Young was born on April 2nd in the year 1935, the second daughter of Florence Choate (Wadsworth) Young and Henry Louis Young, in New York City at the Sloane Presbyterian Hospital. Her older sister, Barbara Jean, was born in the same hospital two years earlier. Ann grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where her father, Henry, worked in NYC as a Chemical Engineer, and her mother, Florence, ran the household. Growing up, Ann and Barbara also had almost-sibling relationships with their cousins, Nancy (Wadsworth) Aliberto and Georgie (Harris) Forguson. Ann graduated from Ridgewood High School, and went on to study at Mt. Holyoke College, following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother (Martha Jane Lyon Wadsworth), mother and sister, graduating in 1957, with a degree in Religion.

Following college, Ann worked at the Episcopal Church Center in NYC, where she met her future husband, Aliberto Riverra Simón, who was working with youth through the church. They were married June 19th of 1965 in Newark, New Jersey. In the next few years, Ann gave birth to three children, Kenneth Orlando Simón (1966) and twins, Giselle Annette Simón and Peter Anthony Simón (1968). Ann and her family spent the next many years living and traveling due to Al’s work for the USAF. They were stationed in Massachusetts, Tennessee, the Philippines, Las Vegas, the Island of Crete in Greece, San Angelo, and finally, Austin, TX. Along the way, Ann helped teach her children about language, literature and the arts. Later, Ann went back to school and earned her teaching certificate in San Angelo, where she started teaching at the high school level, before switching to pre-school. When she moved to Austin, Ann found her passion teaching at the early childhood level and helped found the small school at St. George’s Episcopal Church, where she continued as the Director for the rest of her career.

In addition to raising her family and developing a teaching career, Ann enjoyed travel, hiking (inspired by her father), canoeing, and pottery. Much of her young life was spent hiking and canoeing in the Adirondacks in New York and throughout the New England area. While living in Crete, Ann befriended a local potter couple and learned traditional decorative techniques. She continued to work with clay in Austin and then when she moved to Tacoma, Washington. Ann also found a faith-based arts community in nearby Leavenworth, Washington, called the Grünewald Guild, where she would love to go on retreats to learn more about pottery and commune with like-minded folk in a beautiful natural setting.

In (2003), Ann retired from teaching, divorced Al, and moved out to Tacoma, so that she could be close to at least one of her children. Peter and his wife, Christie, had recently relocated there. As Ann took on the challenge of living with a Parkinson’s diagnosis, she also eagerly plugged into a new community, gaining new friends through Christ Episcopal Church and through Pete and Christie’s extended family and friends in Tacoma. Ann rode her bike to get around and got out to area hikes as often as possible. And, of course, she found a studio and made pottery. Ann also spent time visiting her children: Giselle (Barry Phipps) in Chicago, IL and then Iowa City, IA; and Kenneth (Lisa Wozniak) in Ypsilanti, MI. She also loved to spend time with her grandchildren: Zach and Ben in Michigan; and Henry and Joomee in Tacoma. After a long and gracious battle with Parkinson’s, Ann passed in her sleep on June 9th, 2023. We will gather in Tacoma for a funeral service on Saturday, August 12th, 2023, at 10:30 am at Christ Episcopal Church 310 N K St, Tacoma.