Fauna Simer                                                                                                                                                    March 31, 1949 – September 9, 2026                                                                                                                              

Fauna Simer, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, passed away peacefully on September 9, 2026, at the age of 77.

 Fauna was born on March 31, 1949, to Glen and Kathryn Taylor. She grew up on Terminal Road in East Peoria, Illinois, alongside her sisters, Marian and Joanne, and her brother, Bob. Those early years were the beginning of a life deeply rooted in family—a value that would remain at the center of everything she did. 

Fauna was married to her husband, Marvin Simer, for 52 years. Together, they built a beautiful and very full life. They raised a family, entertained friends and loved ones, enjoyed a busy social life, and shared a love of tennis, playing together at Timber Ridge. Through more than five decades of marriage, they created a home filled with family, friends, celebrations, traditions, laughter, and countless memories. 

Above all else, Fauna believed in putting family first. She was a devoted mother and a role model whose influence will continue through her children and grandchildren. She taught by the way she lived—showing that loving your family means being there, creating traditions, opening your home, gathering people around the table, and taking care of one another. 

Fauna loved to cook and bake and was famous among family and friends for her baking. Christmas was especially meaningful to her, and her Christmas cookies were a beloved part of the holiday season. Her kitchen was a place where food and love were intertwined. Recipes became traditions, and preparing something special was one of the ways she cared for the people around her. She passed along that love of cooking and baking to her family, along with the understanding that feeding someone is about much more than food—it is a way of feeding the soul. 

Fauna had a gift for making life feel special. She loved holidays, birthdays, family traditions, and any reason to bring the people she loved together. A wonderful hostess, she was known for throwing elaborate parties and beautifully decorating her home. For Fauna, the details mattered because making something special was one of the ways she showed her love. The decorations, the food, the traditions, and the gathering around the table were all about creating memories with the people she loved. 

Being a grandmother brought Fauna tremendous joy. Her grandchildren were never simply her grandchildren—they were her “grandbabies” and her “angel babies,” and she never missed an opportunity to tell them she loved them “to the moon and back.”

When her grandbabies were young, Fauna was an important part of their everyday lives. She was there for sleepovers and sick days, early dismissals from school and Grandparents’ Days. She showed up. Again and again, she showed up. 

One of their most cherished Christmas traditions was the special evening Fauna and Marvin shared each year with their grandchildren. They would take the grandchildren out for a fancy dinner—first to the Patio Restaurant and, in later years, to Ocean Grill. After dinner, everyone would return home for a sleepover filled with Christmas movies. What began as a special night out became a beloved family tradition and a treasured childhood memory: Grandma and Grandpa, a fancy Christmas dinner, a sleepover, Christmas movies, and the excitement of simply being together. 

Fauna also loved tennis, and tennis became an important part of the life she and Marvin shared. Through Timber Ridge, they enjoyed a wonderfully full, fun, and active social life with a treasured circle of friends. There were tennis matches and tournaments, but also countless parties, dinners, celebrations, and years of friendship. Fauna loved entertaining this group as much as she loved playing alongside them. Her annual Halloween party became famous among her friends—a much-anticipated tradition filled with costumes, decorations, laughter, and the kind of celebration Fauna knew how to create so well. 

Ten years ago, Fauna was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. She survived a diagnosis that could have taken her from her family much sooner. She fought with extraordinary determination—not simply to survive, but for more time. 

More holidays. More birthdays. More weddings. More graduations. More celebrations. More ordinary days. 

And, most precious of all, more family. 

During those extra years, Fauna welcomed another grandchild, Poppy, who brought tremendous joy to her life. Poppy was one of the beautiful gifts of time that Fauna knew she might never have experienced without those additional years. 

Fauna understood exactly what that extra time meant. It meant watching her family grow and change. It meant being there for milestones she might otherwise have missed. It meant more Christmases around the table, more birthdays to celebrate, more weddings, more graduations, more memories, and another grandbaby to love. 

It meant more time with Marvin, her children, her grandbabies, and the friends she loved. 

And she got that time. 

Those additional ten years were a gift—to Fauna and to everyone who loved her. She didn't take them for granted. They gave her more of what had always mattered most to her: family. More gatherings, more meals around the table, more laughter, more celebrations, more “I love you to the moon and back,” and more memories for her family to carry with them. 

During the final two weeks of her life, Fauna was surrounded by her family and the love that had always been at the center of her world. There was time together, time to be close, and time simply to be a family. On September 9, Fauna passed peacefully, surrounded by her children and holding the hand of Marvin, her husband of 52 years. 

It was a fitting end to a life centered on family: she was surrounded by the people she had loved so fiercely. 

Fauna is survived by her beloved husband of 52 years, Marvin Simer; daughter Kelly Hudson and her husband, Ken Hudson; son Sean Sullivan and his wife, Tess Sullivan; daughter Tara Layne and her husband, Scott Layne; and son Randy Simer and his wife, Lisa Simer. 

She is survived by her cherished grandchildren: Isabella Lovaglio and her wife, Abby Lovaglio; Emily Hudson; Laynie Barkwell and her fiance, Davis DeFore; Tanner Barkwell: Poppy Sullivan; Levi Ray; and Raven Chelsea Fleener. 

Fauna is also survived by her brother, Bob Taylor and his wife, Pat Taylor; as well as beloved nieces, nephews, including Jim and Amy Bradshaw and their children; Barb and Steve Lawerence and their children; Tim and Julie Taylor and their children; and Angie Taylor and her children. 

Fauna was preceded in death by her parents, Glen and Kathryn Taylor, and her sisters, Marian King, and Joanne Bradshaw. 

Fauna's legacy can be found in the traditions she created, the celebrations she made special, the food she lovingly prepared, the home she filled with beauty and hospitality, and most of all, in the family she loved so fiercely. 

The holidays will look different. Birthdays will feel different. There will be an empty place at family gatherings that cannot be filled. But the traditions Fauna created will continue. Every time her family gathers around a table, bakes Christmas cookies, celebrates a birthday, decorates for a holiday, watches a Christmas movie, tells an old story, or prepares food for someone they love, a part of her will be there. 

She taught her family that food can feed the soul, traditions can connect generations, and showing up for the people you love matters. 

She fought for more time with her family. 

And in that time, she gave them even more to remember. 

To the moon and back