Fred Simonen died on October 9, 2024 with his wife, Chris, by his side after a two-month decline in his health. Fred was born June 12, 1941 to Paul and Alice (Ikola) Simonen, and raised as the middle of three sons in Munising, Michigan. His youth was full of activities: Boy Scouts (earning his Eagle badge), school band, and basketball. Weekends were spent at the family summer cottage on Lake Ostrander, skiing and snowshoeing. His family traveled to Yellowstone and Glacier parks, Washington, D.C., and Florida in a trailer house. In 1959, he graduated from Mather High School.
Fred’s education continued in Mechanical Engineering at Michigan Tech. He was granted a National Science Foundation Fellowship for Masters and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University. He met Christine Pohjala on a blind date, and they married in 1965. Fred and Chris raised two sons, Michael and Matthew, and hosted foreign exchange students Petri from Finland, and Antonia from Germany. Also special friend Shun (Japan) lived with them for his senior year.
Fred worked at Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio for nine years before transferring in 1976 to Battelle’s operation at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington. While at Battelle, he published extensively, including project reports, engineering journals, conferences, and proceedings and was promoted to Laboratory Fellow. His work took him to Spain, Japan, Canada, Sweden, Russia, Lithuania, Hungary, and Ukraine. He was active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and was elected an ASME Fellow. Fred worked on many interesting projects, including space shuttle thermal protection tiles, helping to perfect the manufactory process of Pringles potato chips, Chernobyl-type reactor safety, Hanford projects to vitrify nuclear waste, potential life extension of N-Reactor, and integrity of waste storage tanks. After retiring, he did consulting work supporting license extension of nuclear power plants.
Fred was active in his church and served on several committees, including at Richland Lutheran and First Lutheran Church in Pasco, where he also served as church council president. He served on the Board of Lutheran Community Services Southeast Area for over six years. His personal interests included camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and attending Tri-City Americans hockey games where he was a charter member season ticket holder, and working out at the gym. In 2013, Fred met his second cousins in Finland on a family trip. Fred and Chris travelled together to Panama, Peru and Chile.
Fred was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Tom and Ed, and sister-in-law Judy. He is survived by his wife, Christine, sons Mike and Matt (Johanna), grandsons Phoenix and Ethan, sister-in-law Candy, and nieces Kate, Brenda, Debbie, and Patty.
A memorial service is scheduled for Tuesday, October 22, at 11:00 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Pasco, 530 W Bonneville. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The First Lutheran Church in Pasco.