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Suburban painter Norma Simone lived the 'artful' life

Norma Simone was a nationally known artist whose works can be found in private and corporate collections. But around Hoffman Estates, where she and her late husband, Victor, lived for many years, her passion for the arts was better known for helping enrich the community.

Simone died Monday at Victory Centre of Bartlett, where she also had exhibited. She was 95.

"Our mother was incredibly talented," said her youngest son, Dave, of Bartlett. "It's a wonder she had time for everything."

She had a pivotal role with the Guild Players, a community theater troupe that produced plays at the Barn in Schaumburg and at local high schools in the 1960s and 1970s. Victor Simone directed the plays, while Norma designed the sets and also directed some of their workshops.

The couple also were members of St. Hubert Catholic Church in Hoffman Estates, where Victor Simone directed the choir for many years and his wife sang in it.

All during those years, Simone was a contributing member to the Illinois and Midwest watercolor societies, as well as exhibiting her art locally and throughout the Midwest.

Simone grew up in Brooklyn, where the family home and its proximity to Coney Island and the Atlantic Ocean influenced the early subjects in her artistic endeavors. However, it was her grandfather's design school in New York where she got her start and where she ultimately developed a love for watercolors.

"One day, someone gave me a watercolor kit, and I've been doing that ever since," Simone said in a 2008 Daily Herald interview. "There's always something to inspire me. It's live art for me."

Simone earned her undergraduate degree in English at Northeastern University in Boston before marrying. Her family said she met Victor in New York, when he directed the church choir that she joined.

A job change took the couple to Chicago, and when they transferred again to Minneapolis, Simone took the chance to earn a bachelor of fine arts at the University of Minnesota, where she would also teach in the community and exhibit.

The couple returned to the Chicago area, settling first in Elgin and then back in Hoffman Estates to be closer to grandchildren. She wrote a weekly column for Pioneer Press and also contributed theater critiques and local features.

Mostly, though, Simone continued to paint. When she was 88, her work was featured in a three-person show at the Victory Centre, designed to show how art enriches all spectra of life.

Besides her son Dave, Simone is survived by daughter Stephanie Simone of Rockford and son Pete Simone of Boulder City, Nevada, as well as three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

A service was held Thursday at Countryside Funeral Home and Crematory in Bartlett.

  A piece by Norma Simone, was exhibited in a Bartlett art show called "Living an Artful Life." Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
  Norma Simone, left, was 88, when she, Pat Leonard and Art Funk had an exhibit at the Bartlett Village Hall 2nd Floor Gallery. Mark Black/mblack@dailyherald.com
Norma Simone, of Hoffman Estates and later Elgin and later Bartlett, in her art studio.
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