Kathryn D. Simeoni

 

For 20 plus years, chronic pain tried to control the life of Kathryn D. Simeoni. It wasn’t until the last years of her relatively short life, which ended on March 22, that the pain dominated her existence. So we, her family who adored her, are going to ignore these latter years in this tribute to her. She’d be furious that we were writing this commemoration anyway, so we will go ahead and document as we remember her. As her niece said, Kathy’s story is not the real story. The quick bits: She was born 61 years ago in Northeast Philadelphia, attended Temple University, worked as a benefits pro for what was then Towers Perrin. She was smart, given major responsibilities and took them extremely seriously. No phone calls during working hours, please, and so what if I work until midnight? I have a deadline. You get the idea. With her husband, sister, cousins, nieces, friends ( the latter all from grade school and high school) she did what she loved to do: go to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones concerts; camp at the Kentucky Derby every year; hit the Jersey shore as much as she could. And collect anything with a moose on it. Collectively, as a family, we scratched our heads as to why. Her generosity was legendary. When a family member needed help, Kathy turned her house over to her. Need to work out some frustrations?No problem: dig up the backyard and install a pond. A large pond, replete with fish and other aquamarine denizens. Need the house for a wedding reception for a niece? Same response – only this time, she and her husband, Thomas, (who died in 2020, obituary is above) revamped the interior of their house. For family, all had to be perfect. And when the pain became ungodly familiar, Kathy did her best to ignore it – the word headstrong comes to mind as an apt descriptor of her. Case in point: During her father’s long illnesses, she would pick up her mother, take her to the hospital and the two of them would sit all day. After Dad came home, Kathy would retreat into her bed for days. 

 

The list of people who are grieving her lost the most include her mother, Gilda Simeoni, her brother and sister in law, Steve and Sharon, her nephew, Matthew, her nieces Beth Bahls and Leslie Bahls Woynowski, and Leslie’s family, her husband Kent, and children Julian and Gabriel, her sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Mary-Anne Carty and Charles and their families and stepchildren Louis, David and Thomas, whose children called Kathy Mom-Mom. And me, her big sister, Christine.

 

We are planning something at The Shore in October. In the interim, if you care to contribute to the ASPCA in her name, please do.