IN MEMORIAM

Page Two

John SIMON (52A)

Order Of Service

Letter from Canada – read by Moray Simon

Our family have been overwhelmed by the many kind expressions of sympathy received by card, letter and email. We knew that dad was a very special person to us, what we didn’t realise was how special he was to the many people whose lives he touched. From my friends all the way back to 1952,

Dear Audrey

There are positives and negatives to this electronic age in which we now live. A significant positive is the speed with which we can convey our thoughts and our feelings to the recipient. A significant negative is the apparent objectivity the transmission presents, in comparison with a handwritten letter. Please, Audrey, think of this as a handwritten letter, which I need to express quickly.

I loved your John from the first moment I met him in Juniper Green so many years ago. He wearing his kilt, an outfit that was kind of unfamiliar to the urchins of Musselburgh, in fact as cheeky little boys we used to chant “kiltie kiltie cauld bum couldn’y keep a warm bum” to the Loretta school students when they walked through Musselburgh on Sundays.

But seeing John in his kilt, a man I very quickly learned to admire, gave me added pride in my Scottish heritage. John was an extremely intelligent man, an intellectual man and a very gentle man. His love for knowledge in all things was so apparent in everything he did. With a different situation in his boyhood life I have little doubt he would have gone to university and perhaps remained in a field of academia.

Our son Steven, as a boy, always used to say “my uncle John is a genius” and our grandson Sean on returning from their family visit to Edinburgh told me that uncle John was very clever. John, apparently, was able to satisfactorily answer all of the many questions Sean put to him. Once when speaking with John via Skype I said to him “John for goodness sake, at least once, when Sean asks you a question, say you don’t know the answer so that I can attain some level of equivalence”. John laughed, of course. He knew I was only kidding. I was proud that our grandson thought as much of John as our son did. Audrey our feelings towards you and John were never diminished by our distance apart. We miss him very much.

Love always, Bill

(Bill is John’s brother in law, and his wife Isobel, John’s sister, visited John for three weeks in August/September, only going home to Canada three days before he died.)

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Personal Tribute to John Simon (1936 -2009) by Fraser Simon

I would like to start by welcoming you to this service and thanking you on behalf of my family for taking the time to be here with us. It is comforting to see so many family, friends and colleagues who have joined us today and we appreciate your support at this difficult time.

When my mother asked if I would like to read the eulogy at my fathers funeral I wasn’t sure if I could. What son really knows his father? I wasn’t around during his early life and later most of what I remember is shrouded in the mists of childhood. I think it wasn’t until I became a parent myself that I began to understand the man that was my father and recognise how much of him was in me. That’s not to say we had a distant relationship, far from it, it’s more a reflection that with maturity comes incite and the ability to appreciate ones parents as people.

This all happened in January of this year about six months after we learned of Dads terminal cancer, however Mum as usual needed to be organised and her and Dad had already drawn up plans for this day long before they were aware of any imminent need. I felt as the elder son I should play a part in the service and was relieved to be asked rather than have to broach the subject myself. However this left the problem of how to gather the material. At that time Dad was still in remarkable health, he had outlived the life expectancy given at his diagnosis and we didn’t know how long he had left. I felt uncomfortable about asking my parents for details of my Dad’s life since I didn’t want to remind them of the approaching finality.

So this is a personal tribute, one based on what I’ve been told, can remember or have observed about my father. If it’s inaccurate I apologise, if I miss anything out then please forgive me and if I don’t get to the end of it then I hope you will understand.

There have been three men in my life who have had a profound influence on me.

My friend and mentor Allan Leslie

My uncle Brian Rocca, who nurtured my interest in building things, from Lego to computers. He supported my interest in model making and advised me on the purchase of my first car and then tweaked it for me so that it ran better. I wanted to be like him when I grew up and I think it was his influence that caused me to choose a career as an Engineer.

And my father John Simon who gave me my love of books, old buildings and machinery, wild places and nature. Dad provided my brother Moray and I with a comfortable home and a strong family environment. We were able to pursue our various educational and extracurricular interests without thinking about the cost to our parents in time and money. I think it’s from his example that I learned a sense of right and wrong, about community responsibility and the importance of hard work. I’ve also inherited aspects of my personality from my father, my stubbornness, determination and tenacity. A tendency to think I am always right (at least that’s what my wife Fiona tells me) and a sense of responsibility, for and commitment to, family.

With the passing of my father I have lost the last of those I most admire and would wish to be like. I feel the responsibility passing on to me to take all that they have taught me and pass it on to those that follow. It would please me greatly if someday, my son and daughter could say that their father was as great an influence and support to them as mine was to me.

John Simon was born in 1936 and lived with his mother Margaret and father John in Granton. He had two younger siblings. A brother Harry, who sadly died very young, and my aunt and godmother Isobel who visited Dad from Canada recently.

Dad attended school at the local Primary and then Leith Academy. At the age of 16 he left school and joined the army as an apprentice. He was sent to the Army Apprentices School at Arborfield, but was pensioned out shortly after on medical grounds with ten and six per week pension, a demob suit and trilby hat – I’m told he looked very dapper. When he tried to draw his pension the lady at the post office passed his pension book back saying ‘no sonny – your Dad will have to collect it himself’.

He returned to Edinburgh where he found work as a Maintenance Engineer and then Service Manager for Dictaphone Company. He met my mother through Scouting, where he assisted with the local troop and she ran the cub pack. They were married at Granton Congregational Church on the 20th March 1958 and together they bought their first home (a room and kitchen) at Juniper Green. Later they moved to a two up and two down in Corstorphine and on the 4th November 1960 I came along shortly followed in 1962 by my brother Moray.

This is where we change from what I have been told to what I remember. I recall the house in Corstorphine, standing at the living room window whilst Mum shopped at the mobile shop outside, building a snowman in the garden and climbing up in to the loft space with Dad. I can’t say if I really remember this or whether I’ve conjured these memories from the many slide pictures Dad took during our early years. As a young family we spent a lot of time going on days out and picnics. Family holidays generally consisted of trips to the far points of the British Isles where we would walk in the countryside or visit museums, stately homes, castles and other interesting places.

We moved to Warrender Park Terrace when I was 3 and Moray was about 18 months, and I remember visiting the house with Dad before we moved in and helping pull numerous tacks from the floorboards before the carpets were laid. I briefly remember attending Nursery at the Methodist Central Halls in Tollcross a place in later years at which Dad would work as Hall Manager. During our School years at James Gillespie’s, Dad worked in admin at Forth Broadloom carpets, and sales at Ofrex Office Supplies. He then moved to become a surveyor for Rentokil Laboratories and then on to Hans Kristian Furniture where he spent many years as office manager. Hans Kristians was bought by Tony Walkers in 1986. 20 years experience and his unpretentious practical approach did not fit well with the company culture and he was made redundant in 1992. His last fulltime employment was as Hall Manager at Central Hall where he was successful in turning around its commercial rental business and made many improvements to the property. He eventually retired in November 2000.

In retirement Dad appeared to be busier than he had been whilst working. He served on various local campaigns and committees and also found time to act as Church Officer for this church. This was typical of my father, he was always involved in the PTA, or School Boards when Moray and I were young and later in the Community Council and various forums and committees right up until his death. When he and my Mother joined St Marks in 1974 it wasn’t long before he was heavily involved in its organisation, serving as Chairman and representing the church at national level. Dad also had considerable involvement in setting up the Friends of the Meadows and Bruntsfield Links and then Friends of Parks which saw both my parents moving in local political circles and even getting invited to a Royal Garden Party.

Mum and Dad also became interested in the local Canal Society. I think I can be held responsible for that having, invited them to share two family holidays on the Caledonian and Shannon canal systems. Anyway they went along to some local meetings and before long became members and have visited both the Scottish and Irish canals with this group.

Dad had many other interests, some of you will have been the lucky recipients of personal poems on a birthday or other card written to mark special occasions. Some were funny or poignant, others just on the far side of cringe worthy. But each crafted with friendship and love for the target of the verse. Others will have shared long discussion over a “good malt”, in amicable company.

Although always busy both at work and in retirement (he said of retirement - that he was busier now, never got weekends off and the pay was lousy) Dad has always had time for friends and family and in particular his four grandchildren, Robert, Kirsty, Eilidh and Euan. When my kids were small Dad and Mum spent many hours taking them on walks, pushing swings, visits to the museum, reading books and singing songs. When my two got a bit old for sitting on their Grandpas knee he was able to lavish the same attention on Moray and Janette’s children. Yet he still found time to listen to the older kids stories of school and other interests and could be relied upon to lend support whenever there was a school play, rock concert, sponsored walk or other significant event. My parents have a particularly close relationship with the kids and I know that as a father and potential grandfather I could have no better role model than my Dad.

I know many of you here today will have similar fond memories of Dad either as a family man, colleague or collaborator on his various projects. I ask that you take a few moments to remember John Simon and mark his passing in quiet contemplation.

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