Carol Haynes Simons

Trustee. Community organizer. Educator. Child whisperer. Armchair historian. Hostess. Confidante.  Matriarch.

Died April 5, 2024, at home with family in Edmonds, WA at age 98. Born October 9, 1925, in Butte, MT to Charles Delano Haynes and Norma Bardon Haynes, she lived in Hamilton and Missoula, MT, attended Hamilton High School and received her BA and MA in Psychology at the University of Montana.

Carol met Charles Edward (Ed) Simons Jr. while at university and they were married in Missoula on August 30, 1947. Carol and Ed moved to Seattle WA later that year to attend the University of Washington. Ed graduated from the School of Medicine in 1951. Carol completed post-graduate coursework in Clinical Psychology but embraced full-time parenting after the birth of the first two of their seven children. The growing family then moved to Baltimore, MD, where Ed completed his residency at University Hospital.  In 1957, they returned to the Pacific Northwest, enjoying six years in Seattle and almost five decades in Woodway, WA. Carol and Ed had an abiding love of nature and adventure which found expression in their home gardens and in travels in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, India and Sikkim. After Ed’s passing in 2011, Carol moved to her home in Edmonds WA.

Carol was remarkable not only in her commitment to her family, but to her community, as well.  In six decades of public service, she was a board member and President of the Arboretum Foundation, an Intiman Theatre board member, and appointed a Chancellor of Edmonds (Community) College. She was an active volunteer with the Asian Arts Council, Seattle Asian Art Museum, various political campaigns and numerous medical auxiliaries in Seattle and Edmonds. She was a longtime member of the Rainier Club and Women’s University Club.  A voracious and discerning lifetime reader, Carol also loved a good mystery and read every book by P.G. Wodehouse repeatedly to tatters. She is remembered by family and friends for her penetrating wit, curiosity, conversation and for a particular kindness to children and small animals.  Everyone who met her felt entirely seen, heard and cherished on their own merits and felt this a great gift. Carol was quick to laughter, a welcoming hostess, an attentive companion, a wise advisor, and above all a beloved wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother. She remains in our hearts forever May.

Carol was preceded in death in 2011 by her husband of 64 years, Charles Edward Simons, M.D. of Woodway, WA, and by her brother Charles Delano Haynes Jr. of Boise, ID.  She is survived by her seven children:  Spencer (Alexandra) Simons of Houston, TX; Norman (Nancy) Simons of Brenham, TX; Leslie Simons of Edmonds, WA; Sabra (Richard) Contreras of Edmonds, WA; Lucy (Daniel) Greenfield of Seattle, WA; Bardon Simons (Darleen Fernandez) of Anchorage, AK; and Victoria Simons (Jeff Stone) of Seattle, WA; and by her 14 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.  Carol is also survived by beloved nieces and nephews in Idaho, Nevada, California and Montana.

Family and friends are invited to honor Carol’s memory on Sunday, September 15, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the Edmonds Plaza Room, 650 Main Street, Edmonds WA 98020, located one floor above the Edmonds Public Library.

Memorial donations may be made to The Arboretum Foundation, 2300 Arboretum Drive East, Seattle, WA 98112, or at arboretumfoundation.org/join-support/donate.

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