November 14, 2022
It is with deep sadness that the family of Norman Edwin Simmons announce his passing. Norman passed away peacefully on November 14, 2022 at the age of 85 in Creston.
Noman was born in Nelson in 1937 to Horace and Helen Simmons. He spent the first few years of his life with his parents and brother Ray and sisters Jean and Phyllis in Taghum and Fruitvale before moving to Wynndel in 1942 where his parents fruit-farmed a small acreage that overlooked the Flats.
Norman loved to talk about growing up in Wynndel, about his friends, relatives and neighbours and the many hours spent fishing, hunting and adventuring in the area. He had a homemade kayak that he used to explore the then Goat River channel, Duck Lake, and marshes and waterways that made up the Flats at that time.
Norman had many jobs associated with the Creston Valley of his youth including running farm equipment, picking fruit and working in the Wynndel packing shed before he began his lifelong work in the bush as a logger and log-loader operator.
In 1967, Norman met and married his wife Rose Chollak of Fernie, BC who had come to Creston to teach at Adam Robertson Elementary. They had two children - Kathleen and Norm Jr. - and made a home for themselves on the Simmons' place in Wynndel. Rose and Norman had a good life there, building a new house in 1976 and growing a large garden and many beautiful flowers including a rose garden which Norman took great pride in. Norman was very close to his mother and father-in-law, Mary and Peter Chollak, and spent many happy hours in the Fernie area, fishing with his father-in-law and son Norm in the Elk and Kootenay rivers and Koocanusa.
Norman loved the Valley very much and his family, friends and neighbours in Wynnel and later when he and Rose moved to Creston, they felt very fortunate to live alongside good and caring neighbours on Cedar Street.
Norman is survived by his wife Rose, his children Norman Jr. and Kathleen Hart and son-in-law Jason Hart and by his close niece and nephews from the Mather family - Linda (Chester Jump), Danny (Donna) and Jimmy (Wanda) as well as the nieces of his brother Ray Simmons and many nieces and nephews from his mother's family, the Andersons.
The family wishes to thank David Kraft and the wonderful health-care workers and staff at Swan Valley Lodge who looked after and helped Norman during the last weeks of his life. The Simmons family asks those who cared for Norman to please consider making a donation in his name to Swan Valley Lodge or the Canadian Cancer Society. A memorial will be held for Norman next year.