Mortimer & Ruby Simon

At ages 11 and 7, Mortimer Simon and his younger sister Ruby entered the Home. They had been living in Corsicana, Texas, with their mother, the former Rachael Deutschner, after their father deserted the family. Their mother remained with 15-year-old daughter Gladys in Texas for about a year, before moving to New Orleans to be near her younger children.

Although Mortimer and Ruby returned to live with their mother before finishing high school, the board permitted  studious Mortimer to continue his education at Isidore Newman Manual Training School. When he graduated in 1919, his classmates noted his penchant for talking (“good gods! how he will talk!”) but also for being a hard worker who “may be depended upon” to finish whatever he started. He stayed connected to the Home, serving in 1919 as president of the junior alumni association. He attended Tulane University before starting work in the advertising department at the New Orleans Item, where he largely remained until his death following a heart attack at age 48 in 1947. In addition to his wife, Mortimer was survived by his mother and sisters whom he visited every Saturday.