Karen Helen (Javurek) Simon

It is with great sadness that the Simon kids announce the passing of our mother, Karen Helen Javurek Simon. As some of you may know, Mom had been suffering from an unusual dementia for many years, and we are all so grateful that we were able to keep her in our lives for so long.

Mom was a devout Christian, and there's nothing that could have made more sense than her choice to go to heaven early Easter morning. We buried her body as closely as possible to how Jesus was buried -- unembalmed and wrapped in linen -- in their Promised Land of Dillon, Montana, overlooking Mount Baldy.

In lieu of a poetic eulogy, I offer the following, written some years back on Mothers Day:

Happy Mother's Day to the woman who taught me how to cook, sew, recycle, grow things, write speeches, make awesome presentation materials, and sit like a lady. Who also insisted that calcium should never be taken without also supplementing with magnesium, and who snatched away those colorful gumballs sent out by Nutrasweet back in the eighties because she already knew the danger of aspartame. Who taught me how to properly smack the dough with the rolling pin when rolling out a noodle, how to smell when whatever was in the oven was done, and even how, if you add gluten to your 100% whole wheat bread, you can win the grand prize at the county fair. Who taught me how to stretch a dollar and recognize great writing even in the humblest of settings. But most importantly, the woman who taught me that, if you think you have to divide love, you do not understand what love is about.

Godspeed, dear mother. We will see you again.