Charles Richard "Rich" Simonton, 81, of Casper, passed away peacefully at home on June 2, 2009. Visitation will be today, Friday June 5, 2009 from 4 to 7 pm in Newcomer Funeral Home. Funeral services will be held Saturday June 6, 2009 at 3:00 PM in Newcomer Funeral Home. Chaplain Gayle Unruh of the Amedisys Hospice Services, will officiate. Private interment will be at the Oregon Trail State Veterans Cemetery in Evansville.
Rich was born on October 27, 1927 in Tecumseh, Oklahoma. The son of Earl Simonton and Elizabeth Edmonson Simonton, he was raised in Oklahoma and moved to Wyoming in 1958. Rich attended Varnum School in Seminole, Oklahoma. In 1947 he entered the United States Navy, where served on four different aircraft carriers as a Seaman 1st Class. He worked for Roden Drilling Company for over twenty years working his way up from a roughneck to Drilling Superintendent. He started his own trucking business in Casper, called Rich's Hot Shot in 1972. He "retired" in 1987.
On September 23, 1946, he married Thelma Darnell Hinman and immediately became daddy to her son, Bruce with sibling Charles Ray and Linda Carol joining the family a few years later. Rich and Thelma celebrated 55 years of marriage, until her death in 2002.
Rich was an avid fisherman and a big game hunter, enjoying both in the contiguous forty-eight states, plus Alaska, Mexico and Canada. His hunting and fishing buddies, Woodsie, Duane, Neuenfeldt and Dean, will miss him terribly.
He is survived by a son, Charles (Catherine) of Des Moines, IA; daughter, Linda Chivers of Casper and a stepson, Bruce F Hinman Jr. (Sylvia) of Amarillo, TX; 2 sisters, Betty Brady of Pea Ridge, AR and Sally Rich of Seminole, OK; three brothers, Marvin (Nita) of Wellington, KS, Paul (Connie) of Casper and Robert (Coleen) of Ogden, UT; six grandchildren, thirteen great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews and many good friends and neighbors. He is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Thelma, brothers, Earl "Bill" and Robert.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Amedisys Hospices Services, 907 N Poplar St, Ste 153, Casper, WY 82601 or to a charity of choice. The Amedisys Hospice provided excellent service, love and compassion of our entire family.