Lauren Simonds
Easthampton , MA – The world lost a funny, warm and irreverent human
being when Lauren Simonds died Sept. 8 2025. Many lives are greatly
diminished.
Lauren was with her wife, Suzanne Dantonet and her hospice nurse when
she took her last breath at her Easthampton home Monday morning.
Lauren Simonds was born May 12, 1959, the youngest child of the late
Albert Leslie Simonds Jr and Paula Roeder Simonds, in Wiesbaden,
Germany, where her father was stationed in the Air Force. Subsequently
the family moved for another posting to Omaha, Nebraska, and in 1964,
settled in western Massachusetts, residing in Holyoke, Granby and
South Hadley.
Regrettably, Lauren leaves her wife, Suzanne Dantonet, sister Jan
Simonds Hatwell (Stuart) of Horsham, England; brother Todd Simonds
(Judy, Baoshun) of Holyoke, niece Caroline Hatwell from Manchester
England, and many dear friends around the world.
She was predeceased by canine companions, Gromit and Clue. She is
survived by her cat, Bessie.
Lauren attended schools in South Hadley, but graduated from Amherst
High School in 1977,
after which she had an eclectic mix of jobs that included working as a
janitor, in construction, pumping gas, cleaning houses, and washing
dishes.
It was as she was helping a friend at the scene of a car-bike
collision that Lauren got the idea to become an emergency medical
technician. She graduated from an EMT certification program at
Springfield Technical Community College, after which she worked as an
EMT for 12 years, for 8 of them as a paramedic after Lauren graduated
from the first paramedic training class offered at Springfield
College.
Lauren was the first out lesbian on an ambulance rig in western
Massachusetts, which she said brought some joys, as well as a whole
lot of challenges that included constantly being told she would never
make it. Ha! So there.
When she was 31, Lauren enrolled in Smith College as an Ada Comstock
Scholar, a life-changing experience. She especially enjoyed an
internship at the Museum of American Studies at the Smithsonian
Institute and graduated in 1995 cum laude and phi beta kappa with a
major in American Studies.
What followed was a career that included writing and editing at Family
PC magazine in Northampton. In 2000 when the magazine relocated to New
York CIty, Lauren went along.
She lived in New Jersey until she returned to western Massachusetts in
2012.
In addition to Family PC, Lauren worked at a boutique technology
public relations firm on Madison Avenue and held other writing and
editing jobs in public relations and marketing, including as managing
editor for Small Business Computing. Over the years, she freelanced
for a Brazilian news outlet, Mount Holyoke College, the Valley
Advocate and Tech Crunch and she edited several anthologies for a
public speaking empowerment group for women, Speaker Sisterhood.
Lauren spent formative years in the early 1980s in Northampton when
the nascent lesbian community was coming into its own. She played in a
lesbian softball league, on the Rhythm Queens team, and spent three
years living at 66 Green St., a lesbian boarding house that was
reportedly the only such rooming house in the nation.
Lauren enjoyed hanging out with her large circle of friends, going to
the movies, playing ping pong and poker, and especially loved the trip
of a lifetime she took to New Zealand on the occasion of her 50th
birthday with her dear friend Mary Fleming. She also never missed an
annual early fall pilgrimage to Cape Cod with the Cape Cod Cowgirls,
Suzanne Dantonet, Mary Fleming and Pat Jenkins.
Lauren made strong connections and shared her authentic self wherever
life took her, and that included through a difficult journey with
pancreatic cancer.
She bravely shared about her experiences with friends in a
CaringBridge site over the course of more than a year, openly sharing
her experiences with diagnosis, treatment, fears, hopes and plans, and
her decision to stop treatment to live life to the fullest.
Lauren never did stand up comedy, but she comes from a long line of
naturally funny people (her dad was a hoot.) She was known among
friends near and far for her wry sense of humor, warmth and keen
intelligence.
She named her Caring Bridge site “Lauren “Are you fucking kidding me”
Simonds” and over the course of many posts and updates, there was
never one without a flash of humor even when, upon receiving her
terminal diagnosis, she referred to herself as “Dead Dyke Walking.”
She also very often expressed her deep gratitude for the caring
community around her. While working with a friend to prepare this
obituary she said “It’s an amazing, fabulous community and I’m really
irritated that I don’t get to be a part of it for much longer.”
In lieu of flowers, people may donate to the charity of their choice.