Simon Abbott

Simon came to us in 2015, when we moved into a mobile home park in an old neighborhood in Santa Rosa, California. He snuggled his way into our hearts over the course of the winter of 2015-2016 and as soon as he was assured of his place in the household, immediately attached himself to Colleen to the exclusion of anyone else.

He was born and raised on an urban property that had covered most of the neighborhood until construction subdivided it into housing. A descendent of the original owners still lived on the property, but was unable to control the cat population and told us at one point she had 30-plus cats because she could not figure out how to get them all fixed. Simon and his sister—possibly cousin—Calle both came to us from bad living situations. At the time, our vet estimated they were in the 4-6-year-old range, so when Simon left us he was most likely at least 16 years old. He always had hip problems as far as we could tell and would often wiggle when he walked, so it was easy to recognize him when he was coming towards us.

Simon lived a good life with us for 10 years and was ever-true to Colleen. Their connection was strengthened thanks to a number of road trips they took together, the biggest of which was an adventure from Tucson, Arizona to Wisconsin Rapids and back for a visit to Colleen's son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. Simon never had to be caged when he was with Colleen and sat next to her in the car, calmly taking in everything around him. His last road trip was in December 2024 when we moved from Tucson to Rapids just in time for winter.

He was gentle and lovable, weighing in at 16 or so pounds at his peak. Although he weighed less than 5 lbs at the end, his heart never shrunk, nor did his love of snacks, particularly when he was fed them by his catmom, whom he loved dearly. That love was reciprocated and multiplied by Colleen, who will keep "Simie" in her heart forever.

As we grieve this loss to our family, we remind ourselves that Simon's suffering is over and he is hopefully in a better place. It's our belief that our soul-kitties will always come back to us in some form or another and we will patiently await his return with love in our hearts.

Rest in peace Simon. You definitely deserve it.
We love you always.