Kathleen Flynn Simons

September 24, 1944-October 11, 2014

Kathy passed away at the Kaiser Santa Clara Medical Center, after a short illness, with her husband, BoB, by her side. Married for almost 32 years, the couple resided in Los Gatos. Born to John James Flynn and Ann Burns Flynn in Chicago, the Flynn family moved to Sacramento in 1958. Kathy attended St. Francis and Bishop Armstrong High Schools and ARC and started working in the computer and technology industry shortly after graduating high school. She became a sales representative for Sperry UNIVAC, where she met her future husband, an attorney also involved in computers and technology, and they were married in 1982.

After her marriage, she devoted much of her time to her interest in genealogy and had traced her family tree back to the 17th Century, often assisting other amateur genealogists and researchers around the world in researching their family histories. She was devoted to the several dogs the couple had adopted over the course of their marriage, to a myriad of close, personal friends and to her many nieces and nephews, as well as to their children. She was an avid Giants fan and also attended many minor league games at the Giants’ “A” club in San Jose.

Kathy was also the coinventor of a popular board game in the 1980s called “RAPPORT, the Game of Relationships” and appeared on several television and radio programs discussing the game with her partner and co-inventor, Patty BingYou, throughout the U.S., as well as in Canada, where the game was licensed. She attended the yearly Toy Faire in NYC every February during this period and had a standing, annual reservation for Valentine’s Day dinner with her husband at the famous Russian Tea Room, before it closed.

She is survived by her husband, BoB, her father John J. Flynn, her sister Mary Pat Flynn, her brother and sister-in-law John and Dianne Flynn, along with nephew Christopher Flynn, his wife and children, niece Dierdre Lefty, her husband and children and niece Jamie Flynn Bonnette and her husband.

Friends are invited to make donations in Kathy’s memory to one of her favorite charities which rescues and cares for senior dogs: Muttville, PO Box 410207, San Francisco, CA 94141 (or donations@muttville.org).

Kathy chose to be cremated and have her ashes scattered by the Neptune Society. She was a special and unique person who shared her love with her many friends and family, which was returned in kind. She is already greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.