Established on 02.01.2022 by Dr. James '56 and Shirley '57 Simonson †
Dr. James "Jim" Simonson was born in Scobey, MT, and was the youngest of four boys. A year later, the family moved to Sisseton, SD, a small town of 2,000 – 3,000 people located within the Lake Travers Indian Reservation, where his father had accepted a call to the Lutheran church. They lived there until after Jim's 7th grade when they moved to Audubon, MN. After Jim's freshman year, he and his mother, Gladys Simonson '22, returned to Sisseton to complete high school. They would drive back to Audubon on occasional weekends in an old Model A Ford. Gladys was a teacher while in Sisseton, teaching upper elementary classes after her sons began school. She continued teaching when they moved to Audubon. Then three more years teaching back in Sisseton and even later in Glyndon, MN. On a pastor's salary, more income was needed, especially to help four boys through college. The two older brothers also became pastors. The oldest at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moorhead and St. Anthony in St. Paul next to the seminary. The next oldest was a missionary to the Maasai in Tanzania for 50 years.
Shirley (Koeppe) Simonson was born and raised in Sisseton, SD. She had a younger brother and sister. Her father was a clerk of courts and justice of the peace, and her mother cared for their family as well as assisting neighbors next door. It was during Jim's sophomore year at Sisseton High School that he first met Shirley. The Presbyterians were having a sledding party on a popular hill in town, and between sledding, cocoa, and a friend's Ford car, Jim was introduced to Shirley. They would marry seven years later!
Both Jim and Shirley attended Concordia College. Jim was the youngest of four Cobber brothers who each played four years for the Concordia Football team. Besides the excellent physical conditioning that football offered, Jim felt the mental discipline required to be both an athlete and a student was of great help throughout his college career.
Jim recalls being given a job washing clothes for the athletic department. NCAA colleges are not allowed to award sports scholarships, so instead, he and his brothers were given jobs to help pay for their education. Jim fondly remembers how he and his older brothers, Rev. S. Luther Simonson '50, Rev. J. David Simonson '51, and R. Paul Simonson '53, washed all of the uniforms for the basketball and football teams every night in the basement of the gymnasium. Jim remembers the laundry room with an old Maytag wringer washing machine. The wet clothes were hung to dry on clotheslines strung near the ceiling in the basement of the gymnasium. Jim's freshman year, he and Paul worked alternate evenings. The next year Paul had graduated, the new field house had opened, and the laundry was moved there. Jim was paired with another football player his last three years. The laundry was in the basement with a large washer, an extractor, and a large dryer. Then all the clothes for the varsity and inter-mural sports could be washed there. Laundry was done every evening. The two workers would alternate days. It was a good place to study while waiting a few hours to finish. Jim never forgot how hard work helped put him through school.
Jim graduated in 1956 with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry, while Shirley graduated in 1957, majoring in elementary education and minoring in psychology. The couple was married after Shirley graduated, and Jim completed his first year at Northwestern University Medical School (currently the Feinberg School of Medicine) in downtown Chicago, IL. The cost of medical school was only $300 per quarter!
For the next three years, while Jim continued his medical school studies, Shirley supported their young family as a 4th-grade teacher in Oak Park, IL. After a one-year medical internship at Cook County Hospital in preparation for missionary work, Jim, Shirley, and their family were sent by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to Africa to begin a new mission field in Ethiopia. Jim felt called to medical mission work from early childhood, probably because of the contact he had with missionary doctors on furlough at his church and home. He was proud to become the mission's first medical doctor and use his God-given abilities to help people and medical communities in need.
Five years later, the family returned home to the United States (1966), where Jim finished a four-year residency in urology at Northwestern; his first year was spent at the NW Passavant Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and the last three years at the Edward Himes, Jr. Veterans Administration Hospital in Hines, IL. After residency, Jim practiced as a urologist for 15 years in Oshkosh, WI, and then for another ten years in Austin, MN. He and Shirley returned to Oshkosh in 1995 to retire and spend time with their three children - Ingrid (Jorgenson) Simonson, Matthew Simonson, and Sonja '87 Simonson, and numerous grandchildren.
Both Jim and Shirley remained active in their church community, and Shirley enjoyed sewing classes and was certified to work with the ladies that made the exquisite paraments and communion rail kneelers for the church. Jim remained active in medicine, volunteering for three months in Tanzania, Africa, in a specialty hospital near Mt. Kilimanjaro, which he climbed to celebrate his 60th birthday. Jim taught young surgeons in urological surgeries and supervised clinical urology visits and physicals. He said it was his honor and pleasure to provide medical mission work in Africa and in Cuba, where he also brought gifts of medical equipment in addition to his volunteer work to the local medical schools and hospitals. Jim also played a role in the formation of Global Health Ministries, the medical mission organization of the ELCA.
Jim credits his development to Lutheran Christian principles and ethics and to the influence of Concordia College's science department, especially the biology faculty and his pre-medicine advisor, Professor R. E. Fuglestad. He feels Concordia more than adequately prepared him for the rigors of medical school, and his required religion classes provided a solid foundation for his Christian beliefs.
The Simonson family has financially supported many foreign and local church organizations through the years, and Jim, Shirley, and their three children are all C-400 members at Concordia. The C-400 Club is an annual giving organization at the college that was established in 1955 to raise money to build the Carl B. Ylvisaker Library on campus, which broke ground during Jim's freshman year. Jim and Shirley have remained active supporters of the college and were recognized in 2007 at the Mission Medallion level of giving. They have plans to commit half of their estate to Concordia College (to establish the Simonson Family Lecture Series Endowment) and to Global Health Ministries (to support ongoing medical mission efforts).
The primary purpose of the Simonson Family Lecture Series Endowment is to enrich the student and faculty experience by providing lecturers who discuss and explore conservative values, ideals, and perspectives at Concordia. General topics could include, but are not limited to:
* Personal and fiscal responsibility
* Individual freedoms
* The Rule of Law
* Service to community and country
* Limited government
* Human dignity
* Free exchange of ideas
It is the Donors' wish that the speakers provide robust, thought-provoking topics and opportunities for discussions that will engage learners and spark their curiosity. Concordia's academics and the overall culture are enriched, inclusive, and diverse when there is space for all types of discourse to be heard on campus. Concordia recognizes this lecture series as one way to value conservative ideals, viewpoints, and perspectives in the campus dialogue.