Donna Simon

Growing up as the child of a salesman meant a lot of moving for Donna Simon. Born in Abilene in 1954, she went to many different schools, but is still in touch with her best friend from first grade.

Her great-grandfather came to the United States from Germany, and Donna is a descendant of 11th U.S. President James Polk.

After college she received her RN license while working as a student nurse at Scott and White Medical Center. She remained there, working in oncology and eventually becoming the Director of Nursing, running programs in psychology and drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

“I loved my job there. I had 35 to 40 nurses working under me,” Donna said. “I was there until 1998 and hardly anyone left while I was there.”

She left the job to do the bookkeeping for her brother’s business in Dallas, but eventually ended up back in healthcare. She was managing a home health office in Fort Worth when she suffered a stroke in 2009. She moved here a few years ago to help her sister, Linden resident Debbie Dickinson, take care of their mother, who passed away last year.

Although she never married or had any children, Donna had many good friends and did some travelling. She counts among her favorite memories, the time she met Tom Selleck while attending a volleyball tournament in which her friend was a referee. “He was so handsome,” she said. “I was just 21 and cute. This was before he was really famous.”

She was in London the week before Charles and Diana’s wedding. “It was unbelievably crowded, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” she said.

Donna said that her favorite place is Chicago. She went there to see Donny Osmond perform in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. While there she ended up spending 15 minutes in an elevator with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Chicago. “They were all dressed up. We rode down 18 floors together.”

She’s only been at Wesley House for a few months but is staying active there. Her eyesight isn’t what it used to be, so she listens to podcasts and the television more than reading these days.

“I really do enjoy it here,” Donna said. “I love being around like-minded people.”