The Story Behind the Website

For those of you who got here by simply typing www.simon.net to see what would appear, welcome to the Simon Family Home Page. Allow us to introduce ourselves.

The site is the brainchild of family patriarch Samuel A. Simon of McLean, Virginia. Sam's company Issue Dynamics Inc., which recently created a new venture, Amplify Public Affairs,  is a leading Washington, D.C. consulting firm specializing in public affairs and relationship-management services that figured out early on how to successfully merge the relationship-building profession with the development of online tools. Having recognized the potential of the Internet and World Wide Web early on, IDI was a pioneer in registering domain names for its public affairs clients.

While he was at it, Sam laid claim to the simon.net domain before any one else could register it-- initially so he could have the "vanity" e-mail address of sam@simon.net. Some time later, the first simon.net web page was created. More recently, Sam & son Marcus moved the site to a commercial hosting service to make it easier to maintain and update. Marcus finally redesigned the site in early 2003 in anticipation of the birth of his 1st child, daughter Emily Faith.

We'll soon be posting a Simon Family genealogy, but for now, know that Sam is married to Susan Meryl Simon, nee Kalmans. Sam grew up in El Paso Texas, Susan on the other side of the state in Houston. They met while college students at Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas El Paso. They married at the tender age of 21, in 1966, and moved to Washington's Virginia suburbs in 1970 after Sam graduated from law school at the University of Texas. Before they got here, though, Marcus was born in Austin on July 1, 1970.

Sam and Susan added their second child, Rachael about 18 months later on Thanksgiving Day, November 25th, 1971 while Sam was stationed at Ft. Lee, Virginia with the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps. Rachael, the only member of the Simon family not born in Texas, grew up to be the family's lone Dallas Cowboy fan, in spite of (some would argue because of) the efforts of father and brother to win her over the cause of the "official" football team of the Simon family, the Washington Redskins.

In 1999, Marcus married a wonderful woman originally from Flemington New Jersey who also happened to be named Rachel. As you can see, Rachel Goldstein, now Rachel Simon, spells her name slightly differently than Rachael Lara Simon. Being from New Jersey, Rachel, a sales rep for PAYCHEX, Inc., is still a recovering Giants fan, but is learning to love the Redskins like a good Simon should. Rachel and Marcus had their first child, Emily Faith, on April 8th, 2003. Emily already has an entire section of the website devoted to all things Emily. Go ahead and check it out. Rachel & Marcus live less than a mile from Emily's Grandparents in McLean.

Rachael Lara, Sam & Susan's daughter, moved to Baltimore, where she graduated from Dental School in 1998. She now lives in Baltimore's Federal Hill neighborhood, and practices pediatric dentistry in Ellicott City and Catonsville, MD. She recently married her husband, David Proper, a Baltimore native. David is a committed Raven's fan, and Sam & Marcus hold out little hope that any of the Proper children will ever root for the Redskins