After graduating from McNeese State University, he worked as a teacher and oil field driller. He built a long and successful career spanning over forty years in drilling exploration at Shell Oil, where he was a drilling superintendent, and later a rig safety instructor. He had a reputation for unyielding integrity, concern for mitigating dangers to his workers and to the environment, and for loyalty in his friendships and to his principles. His job took him across the Americas, from Michigan to Brazil, before he finally retired to Sugar Land, and later Austin, Texas.
He enjoyed driving and repairing Ford vehicles, rooting for the Houston Astros, and telling humorous stories of his life and career; he traveled across North and South America, Europe, and China and was a voracious reader of biographies and history.
He is survived by Patricia Coles Simar, his loving wife of 58 years, and by their three children Christopher Simar, Ben Simar, and Amy Shipp; by his beloved grandchildren Elliot Shipp and Theo Shipp; and his surviving siblings Kathleen Simar, Mark Simar, and Margaret Sonnier.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, P.O. Box 4486, Houston, TX 77210-4486 or MDAnderson.org/Gifts
