Kaye Simons, 87

Kaye Elizabeth Simons died Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. Born May 19, 1936, she was raised in Whitefish, Montana, the daughter of Dr. John Brimhall Simons and Mrs. Jean Florence Leitch Simons. 

She loved telling stories of her Whitefish youth, such as talking her father out of a speeding ticket by complimenting the police officer when she was three years old while they, as a family, drove a critical patient cross-country to the Mayo Clinic. She spoke of helping her father register sex workers for medical checkups, and his reminding her to be polite and respectful. She was proud of her father for building the first hospital and first clinic in Whitefish. 

She was closer to her mother, and spoke of her as being wise with money, having excellent taste, and possessing Scotch frugality. Her mother, Jean, was five-foot-one, and always proper in hat and gloves. She did her gardening in 4-inch heels, and when she chaperoned the ski team, she drank the men under the table after the kids were in bed.

Kaye was raised in “The Castle” with her brother, John Brimhall Simons, Jr. She followed him everywhere — to the gravel pit, and the lake (where she once had a cast melt into the water while her big brother played). She was valedictorian of her high school class. She told a story of landing a car in a tree on an escapade. She was an excellent skier, swimmer, and pianist. 

She loved exciting men and men who told good stories too much. Her first husband was an Armenian English major who couldn’t write, but was the best Oriental rug repairman this side of the Mississippi, Charles George Keshian, Sr. He was the father of Harold Kevork “Toschoum” Keshian (64), and Charles George Keshian, Jr, (60) as well as a son John, who they lost in infancy. Larry Burman, her second husband, was also an English major. The father of her daughters, Lewis Libbey Whitcher, was a drinker who, according to Kaye, might have been the greatest skier — albeit unknown — of his generation. Her daughters, Jeanne Elizabeth Simons (52) and Rachel Elizabeth Simons (50), were with her at her death in Jeanne and Kaye’s home.

Kaye was a reader who took pride in reading through whole libraries. She loved teaching. In Frazer, Montana, on the Fort Peck Reservation, she was loved as the crazy white lady science teacher. She loved baking and had a few exquisite confections. Her kids all knew she loved them, and that made a difference.

For funeral service information, go to https://www.justcremationmt.com/obituaries