 
Who says at age 81 it’s too late to publish your first book? Don’t tell Ellen Simon, because she did just that! She started 2013 with a bang publishing her book entitled,  “Simply Simon: Poems on Cowboys, Kinfolk, and Life from Mama’s View.”  It is filled with a great selection of her lifework of poetry she has written in her unique rhyming style.
I first heard Simon recite one of her signature poems and fittingly the first one in her book, “A Cowboy’s Knife†at a Henderson Community Days event and discovered her entertaining wit and wisdom that brought tears of laughter. With the help and encouragement of her niece, Brenda Hadenfeldt, and her husband who both work as editors in Boulder, Colorado, Simon was able to self-publish her work.
“It was something I always wanted to do but it seemed to be one of those foolish things that would never happen, †said Simon. She credits her niece for organizing, editing, titling and selecting which poems should go into the book. They printed 150 books and Simon is selling them mainly by word of mouth for $15 each.
Simon has called Henderson her home for the past 18 years when she moved here after her husband died to be near her daughter Barb Reetz. Previously she and her husband had lived in the western part of Nebraska and South Dakota where he worked as a cowboy on ranches. The first chapter of her collection is entitled “Home on the Range†and reflects life on the ranch.
She started writing poems when she was in high school and has never really stopped writing. It was while she was writing a social column for a weekly newspaper in South Dakota that her poetry writing skills were discovered. One week when she was going to be gone and didn’t have any current material for an article, she instead submitted a fictional Christmas poem about what she thought her neighbors might be doing. “I guess it was my first mistake,†said Simon. From then on, everybody began asking her to write poems for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and all sorts of life events.
If you are interested in purchasing one of Simon’s books, you can email her at ejmdsimon@mainstaycomm.net. There are also copies available for purchase at Kroeker & Kroeker Insurance and the Henderson Mennonite Heritage Park.
Shannon Siebert
