My older brother Jonathan Simon died last Thursday in Chicago, apparently from a heart attack. He was 59 years old. Jon was a sweet, smart, gregarious man who had struggled since adolescence with a variety of mental and physical challenges. He had had two previous coronaries in the last ten years and had been hospitalized several times for other ailments. At times, Jon had been homeless, living in his van. For long periods, his only bed was a couch in a friend's living room. Last spring, he took a courageous step and moved to a halfway house on the North Side of Chicago. This provided a more stable environment with more support and it opened up new horizons and new communities for Jon that he found challenging and exhilarating. It's very sad that he died just as this promising chapter of his life was opening.
Please light a candle, say a prayer or sing a song for the safe passage of my brother's spirit into its next form. He never liked transitions and would cling tenaciously to old habits, so we suspect he will need some help with this change. I am having my own struggle to get used to the reality of Jon's death. It seems a long way from here and much too sudden. So we have a candle burning here on a little altar with Jon smiling uncomfortably from a photo. He didn't like cameras much, especially pointed at him.
We are planning a memorial service for Jon in the Chicago area on Sunday, October 21. I am currently with Ruby at my brother Peter's house in Berkeley, California, having returned on Saturday night from a five-week work stint in France. We are planning to start driving east in a few days to get to Chicago in the middle of next week.
