Thomas King Simpson

Dear Eric, Pat, and Katrina,

Your father was such a remarkable man, as you know better than I, that it is difficult for me to accept that such a force of nature as he surely was has totally left this planet. You must be disoriented as well as grieving his loss.
Tom was always such a beacon for us Gleasons. I remember trotting along beside him on his "morning constitutionals" when we visited your House with the marvelous hayloft, and wondering where his stream of observations and comments was going to flow next. His incandescent smile seemed unfailing. The picture you sent just now with his obituary shows it never changed. He gave such delight to my mother and sister Helen when he visited them in New York. They both absolutely delighted in his conversation, Helen following along as best she could. As a poet she appreciated the dimension of his speculations. . As a fellow-intellectual, my mother did the same. The way he combined passion with ratiocination!

My memories of your mother are also very fond. In my mind's eye I find myself standing behind her in our living room in New York where she was seated near the radiator nursing Katrina in her arms. I was awestruck by the tenderness of that moment. Tenderness was not really a Gleason thing. There is one of her paintings still in Rome, and I write to you from our cabin in the mountains where her pictures are on the wall. So I delight in them and remember her often.
I also remember how delighted my mother was when skipped moved to New Mexico and her color palette changed.
For some reason, my parents were great proponents of seat belts and convinced the Simpsons to add them to their car. The story goes, perhaps apocryphal. that they protected Skip and Katrina in utero when the Simpson car was in an accident.

With love and tender condolences on the loss of your amazing parents,
Maud Gleason

Along with Jane Spear, I trust Mr. Simpson's rare energy and kindness will persist into the unimaginable future. His engagement and curiosity with everything in the world left no room for despair in thought or vocabulary.

There is nothing I can add to Eric Simpson's evocative obituary, so tender, yet frankly reflective and reflecting of Tom Simpson's intellect, character, and commitments. He made it easy to enjoy his company. It was somewhat harder to keep pace with the giant steps he took. They will leave an imprint more polished than erased by the sands of time.

My heartfelt condolences to Pat, Eric, and Kate (whom I say I babysat, but who really babysat me, as we explored the wild of the Cape St. Claire shore, and who nicely went to bed early while I read seminar.) He is the reason I stayed at St. John's--he and the lovely dinners I shared with him and your mom, whom I also just adored. I like to think that he will remain an energy in the universe forever.

I have been a student of Mr. Simpson throughout my life : beneficiary of Key school he founded (The Key School -> TKS, appropriately the same initials as those of his name) and student of his there when he occasionally split his teaching activity between Key and St. John’s. I can vividly recall being introduced to the wonders of the parabola and the other conic sections under his guidance. He always purveyed the sense that he was not pouring knowledge into but discovering alongside his students; this was natural and essential to his way of teaching. I also attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, though just after he transferred to the Santa Fe campus I still felt he was teaching on both campuses through his immense work developing manuals that made it possible for undergrads to approach the thought of Newton and Maxwell. As long as there is a St. John’s Mr. Simpson’s spirit will be a presence everywhere there. His love of and preoccupation with the tragedies of Aeschylus also deserve mention and emulation. His website https://www.thomasksimpson.com/ is a treasury.

Charlie Borden

Thomas was a amazing man, you had to know him to appreciate everything he believed in, and what he wanted to convey to people.Thomas was always ready to share his life , and his accomplishments with you. He so love his children, and his grand children. I had never met man like him and I'm pretty sure sure I never will again
.Thomas was a kind , gentle , loving man, I know when he got sick he was so upset that he couldn't finish his essay .Thomas loved to share with you his travels and his life stories.As days go by I'll never forget the talks and the time we had as friends,