Lauren Simonds

1959 - 2025

Lauren Simonds

Easthampton , MA - The world lost a funny, warm and irreverent human being when Lauren Simonds died Sept. 8 2025. Many lives are greatly diminished.

Lauren was with her wife, Suzanne Dantonet and her hospice nurse when she took her last breath at her Easthampton home Monday morning.

Lauren Simonds was born May 12, 1959, the youngest child of the late Albert Leslie Simonds Jr and Paula Roeder Simonds, in Wiesbaden, Germany, where her father was stationed in the Air Force. Subsequently the family moved for another posting to Omaha, Nebraska, and in 1964, settled in western Massachusetts, residing in Holyoke, Granby and South Hadley.

Regrettably, Lauren leaves her wife, Suzanne Dantonet, sister Jan Simonds Hatwell (Stuart) of Horsham, England; brother Todd Simonds (Judy, Baoshun) of Holyoke, niece Caroline Hatwell from Manchester England, and many dear friends around the world.

She was predeceased by canine companions, Gromit and Clue. She is survived by her cat, Bessie.

Lauren attended schools in South Hadley, but graduated from Amherst High School in 1977,

after which she had an eclectic mix of jobs that included working as a janitor, in construction, pumping gas, cleaning houses, and washing dishes.

It was as she was helping a friend at the scene of a car-bike collision that Lauren got the idea to become an emergency medical technician. She graduated from an EMT certification program at Springfield Technical Community College, after which she worked as an EMT for 12 years, for 8 of them as a paramedic after Lauren graduated from the first paramedic training class offered at Springfield College.

Lauren was the first out lesbian on an ambulance rig in western Massachusetts, which she said brought some joys, as well as a whole lot of challenges that included constantly being told she would never make it. Ha! So there.

When she was 31, Lauren enrolled in Smith College as an Ada Comstock Scholar, a life-changing experience. She especially enjoyed an internship at the Museum of American Studies at the Smithsonian Institute and graduated in 1995 cum laude and phi beta kappa with a major in American Studies.

What followed was a career that included writing and editing at Family PC magazine in Northampton. In 2000 when the magazine relocated to New York CIty, Lauren went along.

She lived in New Jersey until she returned to western Massachusetts in 2012.

In addition to Family PC, Lauren worked at a boutique technology public relations firm on Madison Avenue and held other writing and editing jobs in public relations and marketing, including as managing editor for Small Business Computing. Over the years, she freelanced for a Brazilian news outlet, Mount Holyoke College, the Valley Advocate and Tech Crunch and she edited several anthologies for a public speaking empowerment group for women, Speaker Sisterhood.

Lauren spent formative years in the early 1980s in Northampton when the nascent lesbian community was coming into its own. She played in a lesbian softball league, on the Rhythm Queens team, and spent three years living at 66 Green St., a lesbian boarding house that was reportedly the only such rooming house in the nation.

Lauren enjoyed hanging out with her large circle of friends, going to the movies, playing ping pong and poker, and especially loved the trip of a lifetime she took to New Zealand on the occasion of her 50th birthday with her dear friend Mary Fleming. She also never missed an annual early fall pilgrimage to Cape Cod with the Cape Cod Cowgirls, Suzanne Dantonet, Mary Fleming and Pat Jenkins.

Lauren made strong connections and shared her authentic self wherever life took her, and that included through a difficult journey with pancreatic cancer.

She bravely shared about her experiences with friends in a CaringBridge site over the course of more than a year, openly sharing her experiences with diagnosis, treatment, fears, hopes and plans, and her decision to stop treatment to live life to the fullest.

Lauren never did stand up comedy, but she comes from a long line of naturally funny people (her dad was a hoot.) She was known among friends near and far for her wry sense of humor, warmth and keen intelligence.

She named her Caring Bridge site "Lauren "Are you fucking kidding me" Simonds" and over the course of many posts and updates, there was never one without a flash of humor even when, upon receiving her terminal diagnosis, she referred to herself as "Dead Dyke Walking." She also very often expressed her deep gratitude for the caring community around her. While working with a friend to prepare this obituary she said "It's an amazing, fabulous community and I'm really irritated that I don't get to be a part of it for much longer."

In lieu of flowers, people may donate to the charity of their choice.