Obituary for Christiane Simon
Christiane “Chris” Simon died Wednesday, May 25 at Joanne’s House, a hospice facility in Bonita Springs, Fla. She was 92 and had been suffering from cancer.
She was born July 20, 1929, in Charleroi, Belgium. As a young girl, and then a second time as a young woman, she emigrated with her parents to Rio De Janeiro.
Her father, Baudoin Crepin, was an electrical engineer for International Telephone & Telegraph Co., or ITT. Her mother, Alice, was a talented seamstress who produced many of the clothes worn by her family. They were both amateur Track and Field athletes and competed and medalled in many
pan-European championships.
The Crepin family could often be seen around Charleroi on a bicycle built for three, called a “triplet.” Around this time, Christiane participated in various Belgium bicycle races — often winning items for her family like soap, butter and meat that were in short supply during the Depression and War.
Fluent in French, Flemish and Portuguese, as well as German and English, in Rio Christiane took a job at the Belgium Consulate where she met her first husband, Eugene Black Jr. They had two children together, a daughter Susan and a son, Robert, settling in Rye, N.Y.
After a brief marriage to Bernard “Bunny” Lasker (a former
chairman of the New York Stock Exchange), she met the love of her life, Dr. Howard B. Simon.
Chris loved golf, tennis and most of all, bridge. She played in local bridge tournaments, earning a number of Life Master Points. She also enjoyed playing weekly online bridge tournaments with her two children, which she continued until the last weeks of her life. The highlight of her week at The Terraces was playing bridge with a group of friends on Mondays and Fridays.
Chris was a consummate host and a great cook. She loved to laugh and smile and somehow presented both elegance, girlish charm, and impish intelligence. She was an avid reader and an enthusiastic solver of crossword puzzles.
Survivors include her husband, Howard, and children Susan and Robert, as well as her stepchildren Randy Simon and Laura Keely. Grandchildren include Clay and Lindsay Allen, Jack Keely, William Simon, Sophia Black Penaloza, and one great grandchild, Blakely Adams.
Christiane has requested that her ashes be scattered on a favorite hole of a favorite nearby golf course.
She was born July 20, 1929, in Charleroi, Belgium. As a young girl, and then a second time as a young woman, she emigrated with her parents to Rio De Janeiro.
Her father, Baudoin Crepin, was an electrical engineer for International Telephone & Telegraph Co., or ITT. Her mother, Alice, was a talented seamstress who produced many of the clothes worn by her family. They were both amateur Track and Field athletes and competed and medalled in many
pan-European championships.
The Crepin family could often be seen around Charleroi on a bicycle built for three, called a “triplet.” Around this time, Christiane participated in various Belgium bicycle races — often winning items for her family like soap, butter and meat that were in short supply during the Depression and War.
Fluent in French, Flemish and Portuguese, as well as German and English, in Rio Christiane took a job at the Belgium Consulate where she met her first husband, Eugene Black Jr. They had two children together, a daughter Susan and a son, Robert, settling in Rye, N.Y.
After a brief marriage to Bernard “Bunny” Lasker (a former
chairman of the New York Stock Exchange), she met the love of her life, Dr. Howard B. Simon.
Chris loved golf, tennis and most of all, bridge. She played in local bridge tournaments, earning a number of Life Master Points. She also enjoyed playing weekly online bridge tournaments with her two children, which she continued until the last weeks of her life. The highlight of her week at The Terraces was playing bridge with a group of friends on Mondays and Fridays.
Chris was a consummate host and a great cook. She loved to laugh and smile and somehow presented both elegance, girlish charm, and impish intelligence. She was an avid reader and an enthusiastic solver of crossword puzzles.
Survivors include her husband, Howard, and children Susan and Robert, as well as her stepchildren Randy Simon and Laura Keely. Grandchildren include Clay and Lindsay Allen, Jack Keely, William Simon, Sophia Black Penaloza, and one great grandchild, Blakely Adams.
Christiane has requested that her ashes be scattered on a favorite hole of a favorite nearby golf course.