Juliet Lorraine Simpson

Juliet Lorraine Simpson was born the fourth of five children to Lincoln and Cleo Simpson on September 16, 1943, in Joliet, Illinois. The Simpsons moved to California when she was two months old so Lincoln could work at Marinship in Sausalito. The family settled in Marin City, where she and her sisters happily grew up.

Juliet went to Marin City Elementary School, then attended Richardson Bay in Sausalito. She attended Tamalpais High School, graduating in 1961 with a scholarship to San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College), majoring in elementary education. She did her student teaching at Strawberry Point School in Mill Valley and in her own hometown of Marin City under Viola Bowie, a longtime Marin City teacher. Upon graduation in 1965, she was immediately hired as a preschool teacher in the brand-new Headstart Program, where she taught for four years. In 1969, she was hired in the Fairfax School District, where for the next nineteen years she taught first grade through middle school. It was also the year she gave birth to her only daughter, Charlene Elizabeth Green. In 1988, during a brief hiatus, she worked as the counseling secretary at Visitation Valley Middle School in San Francisco and taught summer school. In 1991, she was hired in the Richmond Unified School District (WCCUSD) for her “second tour of duty,” teaching third through fifth grades. She retired from the district in 2007, after another sixteen years of service.

Though Juliet spent a lot of time in school, she also made time for fun. She loved a good game of bid whist, going to jazz concerts, and on jazz cruises. She was a music lover, since her father played the trumpet in a jazz band, and her mother played piano and organ and was a singer. Back in the day, Juliet was in a singing group, The Chiffons, and used to sing at assemblies at Tamalpais High School and Marin City talent shows. She had an excellent memory, and if you needed to know the name of a song or who it was by, the go-to response was, “Ask Julie.” She was also an avid reader, believing in the slogans: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” “Knowledge is power,” and “Read to succeed.”

Juliet was known, respected, and loved for her fiery personality, no-nonsense disposition, compassionate heart, and her ability to “keep it real and do what she feels,” no matter what others thought of her opinions and choices.  

She is survived by her precious daughter, Charlene E. Green of Los Angeles; her youngest sister, Pauline Offord of San Francisco; nieces Jacqueline Lee, Karen Jackson, Lenora Snyder, Lydia Offord, Aaliyah Caramanica, and Danasia Granger; nephews Kenneth Jackson, Gabe Jackson, Gabe Jackson Jr., Michael V. Lee, Michael S. Lee, Kirk Allen, Kyle Allen, Kaleb Allen, Kelvin Atkins, Raymond Caramanica, Julian Rey Allen; and a host of other loving relatives. Her sisters Rebecca Marie Allen, Linette Teresa Jackson, and Lillian Juanita Lee preceded her in death, as well as her oldest nephew Kevin Cornell Allen.

YOU CAN QUOTE ME

“Handle your business.

Stay true to your word. Speak your

mind. Do it with zeal.”

©2020 Charlene E. Green

For my mother: her essence

through my words.