Looking Back

Frieda Simonsen

During these past several months of my ups and downs, I’ve done a bit of

reflecting on my past and, to tell the truth, I’ve been somewhat wistful about

what should have been or might have been. Still, among my pleasures and

treasures are the friends I’ve made and how my horizons have broadened,

thanks to my serendipitous encounter with Apple as far back as 1984.

Among my Apple friends, I was pleased to include Frieda Simonsen. We first met when she became a member of ApplePower.

Whenever Frieda attended our meetings, she had something delightful to show us. Generally, it was something that she had created with the help of her Apple computer, like her beautiful Christmas cards or her gift wrapping paper with the name of the gift recipient gaily emblazoned multiple times on the paper.

Soon our friendship expanded beyond our shared interest in Apple. Although we never

saw each other except at ApplePower meetings, we spoke to each other frequently by

phone and not just about things related to computers.

After a while, Frieda stopped coming to our meetings because her beloved husband

Dick was too ill to drive her from their home in Kempton to our meetings in Allentown.

Still, she remained a loyal ApplePower member and, of course, a dear friend of mine.

Although, as I said before, our telephone conversations were not just about computers, Frieda

frequently phoned me about problems she had using her iMac. As the result of my

helping her solve a truly vexing problem that she was having with her computer, she

sent in a letter to the editor of our newsletter, Apple Update. 

Since I was the editor of the newsletter of the ApplePower user group, in addition to being its founder, out of respect to Frieda, I shamelessly published it. In part, the letter said:

“…I am unable to attend meetings but have bothered Shirley many, many times with

my problems…Always helpful and so patient. She has to live as long as I do or I have

to stop using my computer.”

Coincidentally, Frieda and I were both born in December in the same year and I’m still here. Frieda stopped using her computer September 26, 2017. I shall always miss her.