Brother C.M. Simon S.J.

HOLY ROSARY MISSION - Br. Simon, 69, died suddenly on Friday, July 14, 2006, at the Jesuit residence at Angostura. Brother C.M. Simon, S.J., was born on November 23, 1936, in Spring Valley, MN, one of ten children of Hugh and Ellen Simon. Five years after completing high school, he entered the Society of Jesus as a Jesuit brother, at the age of 22. In 1964, after some years of spiritual formation and further studies, Br. Simon was assigned to Holy Rosary Mission/Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He spent the rest of his life at Holy Rosary, working among the Oglala Lakota people he so loved. Until 1982 he worked in the Business Office, but early on became interested in Native American traditional and fine arts and the culture and history of the Lakota people. In 1969 he helped organize the first annual Red Cloud Indian Art Show. He slowly began to build the collection of Native American art objects that eventually became the permanent collection of the Red Cloud Heritage Center. As the years passed, he learned more and more about beauty seen through Lakota eyes. From 1982 until his death, Br. Simon devoted all his considerable talent and energy to building up both the Heritage Center and the Red Cloud Indian Art show. He stepped down as Director in 2004 but remained very active as Curator of the permanent collection. Over the years, Br. Simon helped any number of young Native American artists gain recognition. He had a wide circle of friends and colleagues, both among the Lakota people of the Pine Ridge and elsewhere. He was active in a number of professional organizations, including the Native American Art Studies Association, the Northern Plains Indian Art Market, and the South Dakota Arts Council. Historians and art critics frequently consulted him in connection with research on the history of the Lakota people, Catholic missionary activity among the Lakota and contemporary Native American art. He had been a Jesuit brother for 47 years, and had served the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge for 42 years. He is mourned by his Jesuit brothers; his remaining three brothers, Eugene Simon and Jeremiah Simon, both of Spring Valley, MN, and Theodore Simon, Menomonie, WI; two sisters, Helen Eggler, Cameron, WI, and Ann Marie Heppleman, Bellechester, MN; and by the many, many people whose lives he touched in his passionate effort to make known the beauty of the Lakota people as this is reflected in their traditional and fine arts. A wake-visitation begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 19 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Pine Ridge. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 20, at Holy Rosary Catholic Church north of Pine Ridge, with the Jesuit Fathers concelebrating. Interment will be at Holy Rosary Mission Catholic Cemetery. Funeral arrangements have been placed in care of Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge. In leiu of flowers, gifts can be sent to the Br. C.M. Simon, S.J. Memorial Endowment Fund at The Heritage Center, Red Cloud Indian School, 100 Mission Drive, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, 57702-2100.