Obituary for Charles “Chuck” Simon

Charles “Chuck” Ray Simon, born on March 30, 1936 in Plainview, Texas, handed away after an extended full lifetime of 89 years on October 1, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Chuck was the beloved husband of the late Mieko Simon, and he’s survived by kids Bill (Becky) of Naperville, IL; Kim (Russell) Stelmach of Pittsburgh, PA; and David (Justina) of Huntsville, AL. He is lovingly remembered by his 5 grandchildren; Robert, Chris (Shelby), Mike, Cameron, and Rowan, and plenty of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in dying by his spouse Mieko, daughter Michiyo (deceased 1964), dad and mom William “Bill” Simon and Rosa Bell Hart Simon, sisters Phyllis Mathis and Geraldine ”Jerry” Stringfellow.

The freckle-faced red-headed boy in blue denims from the High Plains of Texas, spent summers using horses at his Uncle’s New Mexico ranch. During World War II he supported the warfare effort by pulling his wagon across the neighborhood to fill buckets with leftover fats to contribute to the American Fat Salvage Committee to make explosives.  When he acquired a bit of older, teenage Chuck wore a ducktail hairdo and infrequently snuck over to the native used automobile lot along with his mates to take joyrides round city.  Chuck graduated from Levelland High School in 1954, then earned his structure diploma from Texas Tech (Wreck ‘Em Tech!) in 1960. 

Chuck had a distinguished profession within the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps; he was the primary officer to acquire his three-year required work as an architect whereas serving within the Navy and solely the fourth ‘registered architect’ within the Navy on the time. He met and married the love of his life, Mieko Shimoda in 1962, whereas each had been working on the Yokosuka Navy Base, Japan. Together, they constructed a household, together with adopting their daughter, Kim, at age 5 from Vietnam. They travelled throughout Asia to his responsibility stations in Japan, Thailand, and Guam, with stateside excursions in Beaufort, South Carolina; Las Vegas, Nevada; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Beeville, Texas.  From 1971 – 1972, he served as an officer within the Vietnam War by making certain roads remained satisfactory between Nha Trang and Dalat, Vietnam. 

After retirement from the Navy on the rank of Commander in 1986, he  started a civilian profession in Cincinnati, Ohio as a development challenge supervisor.  His most notable challenge was managing the development of the Aronoff Center for Design and Art on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. Adopting Cincinnati as his residence for greater than 35 years, Chuck grew to become a fan of the Reds and the Bengals, and developed a love of Graeter’s ice cream.

Chuck all the time saved up with the most recent expertise. His skilled profession started utilizing slide guidelines and producing blueprints.  By retirement he was an skilled in autocad and, shortly after, was constructing his personal PCs and writing HTML for his private web site. 

Wherever he lived, Chuck was an avid photographer.  As the photographer for his highschool yearbook, he discovered to develop and print pictures, utilizing these abilities as an grownup to doc his journeys throughout the Far East.  He later graduated to digital pictures, chronicling his many post-retirement holidays and cruises with Mieko, and likewise educating Photoshop to others on-line when at residence.

 

In addition to pictures, he had different numerous pursuits.  He was a “foodie” earlier than “foodies” was a time period.  Together with Mieko, he loved making dishes from all corners of the world.  He was a top-notch cook dinner and excelled at home-brewing beer.  While stationed in Japan, he climbed Mt Fuji twice. A favourite pastime in Japan was giving new life to pre-WWII period Japanese “tansu” furnishings, which he discovered discarded within the alley methods of previous neighborhoods, then repaired, reconditioned, and rejuvenated as a weekend passion.  He used comparable abilities to rebuild a 1953 MG TD whereas utilizing it as a possibility to mentor his son.

Chuck lived a various and passionate life from rising up in rural Texas, to serving in wartime Vietnam, working at nuclear take a look at websites, touring throughout Asia, excelling at his many hobbies, and, along with his spouse Mieko, constructing a robust, loving household. 

We love you, Dad.

The household want to specific their honest appreciation to the employees of Ridgecrest of McCandless, Pennsylvania and Commonwealth Hospice. His final 12 months of life remained vibrant and full due to you.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to both the American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org/donate.html, or the Navy Seabee Foundation scholarship fund

To plant an attractive memorial tree in reminiscence of Charles “Chuck” Simon, please go to our Tree Store.