Veterans Spotlight: Ron Simchen

By Clare Jensen

For Puyallup Tribal News
cjensen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: October 30, 2008

Ron Simchen grew up in the Fife area during his youth and teenage years, and attended Fife High School. After high school, he attended various higher education institutions to further his education, as well as avoid the draft.

“All you had to do was stay in college to avoid the draft,” he said. “I was in college, on and off for a couple of years. When I was 22, they caught me.”

After being drafted, Ron Simchen was sent to basic training at Fort Lewis.

“It was great. I was the only guy who could call (family) and get them to bring food out to me on a nightly basis.”

After basic training Ron Simchen was stationed at Fort Belvoir in Virginia for advanced training, and ended up staying there throughout the remainder of his service.

Because Ron Simchen suffered from poor eyesight without glasses at that age, he would never serve in combat.

“I couldn’t go into combat without my glasses – I’d shoot anything that moved!” he said. “I was eliminated from the combat category real quick.”

So instead, Ron Simchen served in the photometric mapping division at Fort Belvoir.

Over his two-year term, he and his colleagues looked at thousands of satellite photographs of Vietnam, mapping, interpreting and comparing photos of a location looking for changes, or any other discrepancies.

“Back then, you’d better have good eyes to catch the differences” in photos. “Nowadays, you just tell the computer to find any differences.”

After Ron Simchen’s service was up, he returned home for a short period of time before moving back east, where he had built up a community of friends during his time at Fort Belvoir.

Ron Simchen lived in Washington, D.C. for about 10 years working as an independent consultant as well as for the local theater where many of his friends also worked.

In 1978, Ron Simchen moved back to Washington state where he started the Tribe’s now decades-old tradition of participating in the annual Daffodil Festival.

“I thought the Tribe should get involved with the community, so we were really out there besides just a name,” he said. Since then, Ron Simchen and community volunteers have been working to create parade floats to represent the Tribe at the Daffodil Parade each year.

Ron Simchen has also worked with the Tribe in other endeavors, such as leading a committee during the Land Claims Settlement and, following the settlement, he worked to establish a library at Chief Leschi School.

Ron Simchen has also been on the Veterans Committee since it was formally established three years ago, and currently serves as the Tribe’s veterans representative.

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