Walter Frank Simon

Frank Simon was born on June 12, 1925 in Portland, Oregon to John Simon and Helen Schoenekker Simon. He was the middle child between two sisters, Theresa and Catherine. While growing up in S. E. Portland, Walt attended Llewellyn School in the Sellwood neighborhood. During this time he delivered newspapers, was a golf caddy, and mowed lawns saving the money he earned to buy his own bicycle which he used to take his little sister back and forth from school and ride pretty much all over the environs of southeast Portland. Walt graduated from Llewellyn in 1939 and went on to attend Benson Polytechnic High School. While going to class during the day, Walt was able to work after school at Iron Fireman where he saved enough money to but his first car a 1936 single seat Plymouth coupe. After his junior year at Benson, Walt met the love of his life Virginia Robinson who, at the time, was attending Commerce High School in Portland. So began a relationship that would span almost seven decades. In May of 1943 Walt received an early graduation from Benson High in order to enlist in the United States Navy and join the war effort. While in boot camp training he earned honor recruit for his company for giving swimming lessons to the recruits who could not swim. After boot camp he was shipped to the South Pacific where he spent the remainder of the war aboard the transport ship HA-5 in the South Pacific. Walt steadily rose in rank from able seaman to motor machinist mate 1st class in less than three years, no doubt due to his training and skills from attending Benson High and working at Iron Fireman. It was during this time that a real romantic relationship began to blossom between Walt and Virginia Robinson mostly thru the letters that were sent the thousands of miles between Portland and the South Pacific and back again. After the War, Walt and Virginia were married as soon as he was discharged from the Navy in March of 1946. Later on that year he was hired by what is now Chevron USA and began a 39 year career in the asphalt refining business with numerous advancements and transfers over the nation along with travels all over the world. Walt and Virginia celebrated the birth of their first son, Christopher Steve, in May of 1949. He was promoted and transferred to Cincinnati, Ohio in early 1954 where they resided for four years. During their sojourn in Cincinnati, Walt and Virginia celebrated the birth of their second child, Craig Scott, in January of 1955. In autumn of 1957 after a long trip by car back to Portland to attend the wedding of his younger sister Catherine, Walt requested a transfer back to the Pacific Northwest to be closer to family. The years of long, hot humid Cincinnati summers with chiggers, lightning bugs and violent thunderstorms; bitter cold snowy and icy winters and the cross country distance to the closest relatives proved to be too much for Walt and Virginia. In the spring of 1958 Chevron transferred Walt to the Richmond Beach refinery just north of Seattle. Here in the moderate climate of the Puget Sound basin, and only a few hours away from the rest of their family, Walt and Virginia raised their family for 12 years in the peaceful town of Edmonds, Washington. Chevron transferred Walt back to Portland in 1970 where he was operations manager at the Willbridge refinery the place of his original hiring. During this time Walt, Virginia and Craig lived in Lake Oswego near Lake Ridge High School. In 1976, once again, Chevron transferred Walt to the Seattle area to be operations manager for the west coast. Walt and Virginia chose to live in Edmonds again and remained there until the summer of 1985 when he officially retired from Chevron. During Walts long tenure at Chevron, he was assigned to many foreign localities such as Alaska, Sweden, Pakistan, Taiwan and Viet Nam as a consultant to assist with design and construction of asphalt refineries. During their golden retirement years Walt and Virginia lived on the coast in Waldport, Oregon. From 1986 to 2008 they spent 22 years living in Waldport during the spring, summer, and early autumn months. Then when the inclement weather began on the coast in November they would pack up and head for Yuma, Arizona until early April. They loved to square dance, garden, travel and most of all they loved their family. In 2008 Virginias health started to wane and they were no longer able to travel. Walts 64 year marriage and 67 year relationship with Virginia ended in November of 2010 when she passed away in the Newport, Oregon hospital. Walt could no longer live in the house in Waldport where there were so many memories, and in early 2011 moved into the Courtyard at Mt. Tabor in Portland to be closer to his sister Theresa and brother-in-law Louie who lived in the same complex and his son Craig. Walts own health started to fail in 2013, and after taking several falls due to poor balance that caused severe injury was moved into Harmony Home foster care in May of 2014 where he ended his days on October 5th due to complications of congestive heart failure. Walt is survived by his younger sister Catherine Mumper, sons Christopher and Craig, grandchildren Megan Guzman, Keith Simon, Timothy Simon, Matthew Simon, and Amy Bostock along with great grandchildren Nylee, Jachin, Pricilla, and soon to born to Amy Bostock (November) baby K (girl). Service Information