Carol Simonson was born and grew up in Chicago. She met David Fitch at college in Ames, Iowa. They had five children: Mark and Kirk were born in Illinois when Carol and David were at grad school; Malika Susan, Paul, and Karen were born after they moved to the DC area in 1955. They became part of Church of the Saviour in 1962 when they moved from College Park to DC.
Carol and David were very concerned about US/Soviet relationships, and managed to travel to th eSoviet Union with their children. They lived in San Diego for a couple years, Nigeria a couple years, and then spent six months traveling from France to India in a VW bus.
When returning to the US, Carol became even more involved with Church of the Saviour missions. She was a founding member of Wellspring mission group, encouraging church renewal, and was faithful to this calling for over thirty years. Carol was one of the early members of Eighth Day. After Carol and David divorced, she provided housing for a series of different people at her home in Bethesda. She became a therapist and helped many people with their personal and spiritual development.
Carol was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1988 and treated it with a macrobiotic diet. In 2009, she was diagnosed with a fast growing skin cancer, Merkle Cell carcinoma. She outlived predictions. In 2012 she sold her house in Bethesda and moved to the independent living units at The Village at Rockville, a National Lutheran Community, where several other Church of the Saviour members live. In the last couple of years, Carol has increasingly needed help. Besides a full time care giver, she was blessed to have four of her five children living in the DC area. They took turns spending the weekends with her, which was a joy them all.
Carol died peacefully in her sleep after spending the day beforehand with all five of her children. These are: Mark (Feroza) of Bethesda, MD (their sons Cyrus and Neville); Kirk (Alice Benson) of Gaithersburg, MD (their daughters Nancy and Wendy); Malika Susan (Greg Haider) of Eugene, OR (her daughter Arissa Fitch-Martin); Paul (Videlbina) of Washington, DC (their sons Javier and Oliver); and Karen Stay (Fred) of Falls Church, VA (son Matthew). She is also survived by her brother, Don (Marsha) Simonson of Albuequerque, NM, her sister-in-law Florence Simonson (wife of Carol’s late brother, Dick), and a host of cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Carol lived a frugal, adventurous, independent, and faithful life. She will be missed, but her spirit lives on in the lives she touched.