Great Uncle Simon Kison

Great Uncle Simon Kison

Simon was born in Kulm, Akkerman, Bessarabia on October 20, 1889.  His parents were Frederick Kison (1861-1916) and Rosina Radke (1861-1939).  They immigrated to the United States in 1893 and settled in the Ritzville, Washington area where they farmed and raised their young family.  Simon was only 4 years old when they arrived in America.

He had a brother Harlipl  born in 1891, also in Bessarabia, Kulm, Akkerman, Bessarabia, then under the control of Russia.  He had a sister Erna Katerina (1892), and Bertha (my Grandmother) (1893-1991), Gustav (1896), Daniel (1901-1953), Alvina (1903-1953).

Simon was Grandmother Bertha Kison's brother.  Both he his brother Daniel served in World War I. I have a picture of both of them in uniform.  However, there is also a document that suggests that Daniel reserved a deferment from active duty since he had a wife and children to support at the time. That experience forever changed his life as an extremely tragic event in World History.  The fighting was brutal and painful in all respects with such enormous loss of life.  Those who volunteered went to fight in the war, thinking that this was "the war to end all wars", but as history has shown, it was nothing close to that with so million of lives lost on all sides with no lasting benefit for anyone.

He entered the service on October 6, 1917 in the Machine Company, 36th Infantry 91st  Division.  He was a  member of the AEF (Allied Expeditionary Force) in France and Belgium July 6, 1918 through April 15, 1919.  He was honorably discharged on May 1, 1919.  His battles and engagements included the Meuse Argonne 1st Phase, Meuse Argonne 2nd Phase, and St. Mihil Last Phase, Lys-Scheldt 1st Phase, Defensive Sector to November 11th, 1918.

Simon was deeply affected by the horrors of fighting in the trenches in horrible conditions with many dying around him.  He wrote a short book describing his experiences that was never published. At the time, there were many similar books written, and probably many others were also not published.  He spent years working on it, editing and revising, using a manual typewriter with many hand-written notes and corrections.  Many Sunday afternoons, he was invited to go home to dinner with us, but declined because he needed to work on his book.  In his book, he describes his vision of Christ in the battlefield, and clearly had mad a major commitment to Christianity as a result.  I have a copy of the book, probably the only one, that was given to me by my mother.

When he returned from the war, he found that the girl he intended to marry had not waited for him, and was already married.  As far as we know he had no other female relationships.

After the war he moved to Spokane and worked as a laborer in a meat packing plant.  His hands were often cracking and sore due to contact with a pickling juices used to preserve the meat.  Later he went to work for the Jensen-Byrd Hardware Store in Spokane.

He attended the Arthur Street Baptist Church (formerly German Baptist) in Spokane, which became the North American Baptist Church after the English language replace German as the basic language.  When the primary services were changed to English, Simon took over preaching in German in the basement part of the church for those who preferred to worship in German.

At one point he moved to an area just outside of Spokane (Moran Prairie) where he bought a chicken farm.  He raised chickens from chicks and raised them to market size.   Unfortunately, he was "taken in" by a neighbor who conned him out of the chickens and he made nothing out of his work and expense.

Late in life, he moved back to Spokane and bought a small house at South 2110 Myrtle, near the new church that the former German Baptist Church (then North American Baptist Church) after the Arthur Street Baptist Church building was sold to another group.  The  name for the new building was changed to the Terrace Heights Baptist Church.

Simon passed away on 11 June 1968.  He was buried at Riverside Memorial Park, Spokane, Washington'  Services were held on June 18,1968 at the Gothic Chapel of Hazen & Jaeger Funeral Home.  The Pastor officiating was Myrl E. Thieses, pastor of the Terrace Heights Baptist Church.