Obit of Simi, Margie (s500) - Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Gene Phillips 18 Aug 2004 Return to Oklahoma County Archives: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm ========================================================================== MARGIE SIMI Published on December 10, 2003 The Santa Rosa Press Democratt Margie Simi, a stylish dresser who loved to dance the jitterbug and play the organ, was a career woman, an avid traveler and a devoted great- grandmother. A Sonoma County resident for 52 years, Simi died of emphysema Monday at her granddaughter's home in Windsor with family members at her side. She was 87. "She was a beautiful woman, always dressed to the "T", said her granddaughter, Sabrina Highland of Windsor. As a young woman, Simi was a model for the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, and always wore high heels and a pleated skirt to work. She was equally comfortable in old clothes, rototilling and tending a half-acre garden at her home in Rincon Valley, where Simi raised a cornucopia of vegetables and relentlessly pursued gophers with a hoe. "She never stopped; she was a go-getter," Highland said, recalling her grandmother's energy and her habit of drinking iced tea from a mason jar. Born on a turkey farm in Oklahoma City, Okla., Simi grew up in a poor family, putting cardboard in her shoes for reinforcement. As a young girl, she took horse-and-buggy rides to a friend's house for singalongs and went to a nearby river for recreation, her granddaughter said. Simi walked in off the street to apply for a job with Pacific Bell, and immediately began a 32-year career with the phone company, retiring as an engineering supervisor. She was a member of the Telephone Pioneers, a phone company employees group. Simi was a hard worker, but also took a month's vacation every year to travel, and continued traveling after her retirement in the late 1970s. Hawaii, Tahiti, Jamaica, Mexico and the Caribbean were among her destinations, along with two trips a year to Las Vegas. Simi also lived for two years in Hawaii, one of her favorite places, Highland said. Survivors, in addition to her granddaughter and great-grandchildren, include her daughters, Bertha Wenger of Santa Rosa and Joyce Stogner of Petaluma, and three grandsons. Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. A funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Daniels Chapel. Burial at Santa Rosa Memorial Park will be private. Memorial donations may be made to Heartland Hospice, 2455 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa 95404. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Oklahoma County Archives: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html