The Summit

Deborah Simon

Deborah, Debbie, Simon is a resident at the Summit on First Hill. She was born in San
Francisco in 1949 to her mother, Gladys Simon, and father, Louis Simon. Her mother was from
Czech Republic, moved to chicago, then came to San Francisco where she met Debbie’s father.
Her father was from Tacoma and then went to San Francisco. Both her parents grew up Jewish.
Debbie and her brother Bob Simon grew up in San Francisco. She described her home city as
“a place that was more active, more engaging in terms of change and young people having a
voice, plus very exciting music.” Debbie followed her description and found a passion within
drama while she attended George Washington High School for four years.

Attending college in the 60s was a challenge. The Cold War and constant conflicts in the
United States at the time made it hard for schools to have a wide variety of classes available
and for a diverse population of students to attend. Unfortunately Debbie had that experience
while attending San Francisco State for her first year of college education. However, Debbie
was then lucky enough to find a much calmer and smaller school in Stockton, California called
University of the Pacific suggested to her by none other than her high school drama teacher. At
University of the Pacific, Debbie received a bachelor degree in art and a teaching credential to
teach high schoolers. After college, Debbie got her first job teaching middle school art at Pelton
Junior High in San Francisco, California. Then transferred back to Stockton and taught at
Lincoln High School. Some years into her teaching career, Debbie received an invitation to
teach at Milton Academy, a boarding school right outside of Boston, and taught there for 38
years, wrapping up her notable teaching career of 45 years!

Growing up in San Francisco, Debbie was confirmed in Temple Emanuel and attended
some service projects, but was not involved in any youth groups. Debbie focused on her
passion of drama. However, Debbie’s family believed that Judaism is about family and that
family holidays are very important. Her family belonged to Temple Emanuel and were reformed.

During Debbie’s lifetime the Vietnam war was going on. The Vietnam War was the first
war to be televised to the population of the USA. Coincidentally, Debbie’s father was one of the
founders of KPIX Channel 5, one of the first TV channels. Both of Debbie’s parents were in
radio and television industry making Debbie very conscious of the news and very aware of
current events. The TV equipment used then were insanely huge 20 ton cameras used to
document news and information coming through the ticker tape. One time Debbie was helping
out during the primary elections with Robert Kennedy. Her job was to take the information off
the ticker tape full of teletypes of information being transmitted. As Debbie was helping out with
the ticker tape she was the first one to see the information that Robert Kennedy was shot.
Debbie “[remembers] her heart just sinking because [she] was a Kennedy passionate fan.” After
receiving the information, Debbie “took the sheet of paper into [her dad’s] office and [asked to
speak to him] for a moment but he said he was busy…[she] was like “no now!” After telling her
dad what happened the whole news studio fell silent and in shock of what had just happened.
She can still remember holding that sheet of paper in her hand. Debbie is thankful to have been
a part of her dad’s work because now she sees a huge impact that television has on the world
today. Her parents were lucky enough to take the risk to help start an industry no one knew
would be so big.

Debbie moved back to Seattle for family connections and because her brother, Bob
Simon, is on the board of the Kline Galland and convinced her to live at the Summit. While
moving from Boston to Seattle Debbie hurt her back and decided she was not ready to move
into an apartment without assistance. The Summit appealed to her because she liked the idea
of having a community and returning back to her Jewish roots. Debbie also moved back to
return to family and have that special community and Jewish family celebrations she was not
able to have living in Boston.