Novene Jo Harris Simon

Novene Jo Harris Simon, 85, died April 6, 2010, in Austin, Texas. She was born January 3, 1925, in Killeen, Texas, the only child of Lillian Virl Duncan Harris and Johnnie Eugene Harris. Jo will be remembered fondly by family and friends for her kind and gentle heart and for her spunky sense of fun and adventure. She had the instinctual habit of looking for the humor in almost every situation and knew how to laugh her way through trouble. Jo spent happy summers chasing after cousins on their grandparents' farm near Lometa, Texas. She graduated from Killeen High School in 1942. In 1944, she traveled to San Francisco to marry Frank Simon, Jr., newly returned after 2 ½ years in the U.S. Naval Hospital Corps in the South Pacific. It was wartime, and Jo worked in the security office at a munitions factory. After the war, they returned to Austin where Frank enrolled in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Texas, while Jo enjoyed working for the Austin Police Department. Their first child was born the day Frank took his pharmacy board exams. They lived briefly in Temple. In 1953, with a second baby in arms, they moved to Waco. In 1959, they built a home in Woodway and lived there 50 years. In 2008, due to declining health, Frank and Jo moved to Austin to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Frank died in December 2008. Jo wrestled for a couple years with uterine cancer. An avid birder, Jo loved nothing better than hiking through the woods, scope and binoculars in hand. She was an accomplished seamstress and was a member of the Homespun Quilting Guild in Waco. Genealogy was a passion, and she was a proud member of the Elizabeth Gordon Bradley Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Jo and Frank had many dear friends in the Square Shooter Square Dance Club, and they were members of the Western Heights Baptist Church in Waco. Survivors are son and daughter-in-law, David and Barbara Simon of Corpus Christi; daughter, Mary Simon and her partner Wayne Jeansonne of Austin; grandchildren, Gordon Simon and his wife Letti Davis of Chicago, Jessica Simon of Austin, and Samuel McCommon of Austin. Graveside Service will be held at 1:00 pm on Thursday, April 8, 2010 at Live Oak Cemetery in Manchaca, Texas, with Reverend Sarah Bentley officiating.