Ardith Marie Read SImpson
Ardith Marie Read Simpson, age 92, died on April 3, 2025, at the Clarence Care Center in Clarence, MO. For the past 74 years she lived on a farm west of Clarence, sharing her life with her dear husband Jack Simpson for 69 of those years; he preceded her in death in 2020. She was born in Shenandoah, Iowa, on April 17, 1932, and grew up on a farm west of Essex, Iowa, overlooking the Nishnabotna River. She is preceded in death by her parents, Warren W. Read and Enola Newquist Read, her sister Virginia Ellen Read Atkins, and her nephew William Warren Atkins of Billings, MT. In 1946, her family moved to a farm south of Clarence, but Ardith never forgot her Iowa home on a hill, overlooking the river, and kept fond memories of her Swedish grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She also held dearly her Read cousins and a family history that she loved researching.
She will be forever remembered by her three children, Winston Read Simpson and wife Marilyn Smith Simpson of Clarence, Candace Simpson Tannous and husband Paul I. Tannous of Houston, TX, and Eva Simpson Johnston and husband Mark B. Johnston of St. Louis; grandchildren Guy Simpson and Steffi Glitzie of Göcklingen, Germany, Amy Simpson Owen and husband Tom Owen of Peachtree City, GA, Issa Tannous and wife Alejandra of Houston, Jack Tannous and wife Jeannette of Princeton, NJ, Kate Tannous and husband Russell Galloway of Santa Barbara, CA, Will Johnston of St. Louis, and Beth Johnston and husband Patrick Rooney of St. Paul, MN; great-grandchildren Annmarie and Keeley Owen, Samuel and Justin Glitzie, Eleanor and Elias Tannous, Airam Sosa, and nieces Debbie Atkins Bates of Billings, Charlotte Atkins Kloepfer of Boise, ID, Sandy Atkins of Billings, and many dear family members whom she kept in touch with through the years. One Montana relative summed up Ardith this way: “She was an amazing woman! She could remember family history like no one I have ever met, cook a delicious meal, sing and play the piano beautifully, and be a kind and loving lady.”
For many years, Ardith was a pianist at Clarence Christian Church. Folks often came to the house to rehearse “specials,” and she was sometimes asked to sing at weddings and funerals. For several years, she taught the Singles & Doubles Sunday School class, and later the Alpha Deltas class. For two decades, she taught, sang, and played the piano for Sunday morning services at the Clarence Care Center. In her senior years, she led a women’s Bible study and cherished the fellowship with these ladies. One of her dearest joys was singing in a trio with Gwen Smith and Charlene Burkhardt.
While she spent most of her life on the farm near Clarence, she traveled
extensively through reading, often going back in history and digging deeply into certain points of interest with a fascination that kindled her imagination and infused her spirit. She loved parsing the Scripture, examining the words of struggle and hope that gave meaning to her life. She delighted in trips to Montana to visit her sister Virginia and her family. In the fall of 1989, she and Virginia traveled back to the Read ancestral home in New York, and retraced the military march made by their great-grandfather Jonathan Read, which he recorded in a diary he kept during the War of 1812. She also enjoyed trips with Eva and Mark to Washington, D.C., the White House, Monticello, Plymouth Plantation, Newport, RI, and Front Royal, VA. Another memorable trip was when she and Jack went with Candace to England to visit their grandson Jack Tannous at Oxford. Over the years, she enjoyed attending the University Concert Series at Jesse Hall in Columbia with Marilyn Simpson.
In every season, Ardith was a wonderful cook. She steadfastly prepared meals for her family and often a noon meal for Jack’s hired hands. She was creative and resourceful and loved coming up with her “concoctions” even as she cooked for herself in her 90s. We especially loved her fried chicken, her pies, her Swedish rye bread, her butter rolls, and her German Chocolate cake. It was no secret that she was a Harry Truman Democrat, and she relished wearing her apron that said, “If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!”
In the long sweet savoring of life, she always felt she was incredibly blessed
with a loving husband, and with exceptionally kind neighbors in the Anabel and Clarence communities, and wonderful friends in Shelby and Macon Counties.
Her family was her world, of course, and she delighted in our times together, and cheered us on with praises, caveats and prayers. She will be remembered for her petunias and her garden, her love of music, especially singing around the piano together, her devotion to the Bible, to history and our family history, her beautiful smile, her many stories—and how she loved watching “Jeopardy” every day. Her family wishes to thank the staff at Clarence Care Center for their extraordinarily professional and loving care.
There will be a celebration of Ardith Simpson’s life Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Clarence Christian Church, Clarence, Missouri. Visitation will be from 11 am to 1 pm. Funeral service will be at 1 pm followed by burial at Maplewood Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to TCM Missions, Maplewood Cemetery, or Clarence Christian Church.
