When Jan Simons first entered the old Aberdeen YMCA building on Market Street in 1975, she never envisioned she was beginning an association that would last for nearly 40 years.
A native of Seattle, she had taught swimming at the West Seattle YMCA. But, having recently relocated to Grays Harbor with her husband Doug, a state Department of Fish & Wildlife employe, she was initially reluctant to undertake a similar job in Aberdeen.
After a couple of false starts, however, she finally hooked up with Pam Aho, then the Aberdeen Y’s aquatics director.
“I came in and Pam was teaching swimming lessons,” Simons recalled. “That was all I needed to see. I was so impressed with her. I learned volumes from her.”
Some 39 years later, the 65-year-old Simons is ending a YMCA career that has included a variety of positions. The director of YMCA’s Camp Bishop operation for the past eight years, she retired Friday. Her husband, having retired from Fish & Wildlife several years ago, is also relinquishing his position as the Camp Bishop facilities director.
The couple will move to Schafer Meadows in Brady, where they own a five-acre farm. Jan will continue as the Aberdeen High School girls swimming coach. She coached the Bobcats to the state 2A championship in 2008.
Simons said retirement was a family decision.
“I would have gone one more year, because I like even numbers,” she said. “But (Doug) works really hard at his job and he was ready for a change.”
Simons began her career teaching youth swimming classes in the Aberdeen Y’s tiny pool, an assignment she embraced.
“It was a perfect teaching pool,” she recalled.
Simons later coached the Y’s swim team, the Sea Otters, and succeeded Aho as aquatics director in the late 1970s. She maintained that position through the merger of the Aberdeen and Hoquiam organizations into the current YMCA of Grays Harbor until she was approached about the Camp Bishop job in 2006.
YMCA officials elected to expand Camp Bishop, located nine miles southwest of Shelton, into a year-round operation and wanted a full-time camp director and facilities manager living on-site.
“They really wanted Doug (who had just retired from the Fish & Wildlife department),” Simons said with a laugh. “They knew about his passion (for that type of work) and he was excited about the job. He became the facilities director and I was moved laterally. Dotty (Colwell) became the aquatics director and it was a win-win situation for everybody.”
At Camp Bishop, Jan supervised the summer camp and assorted off-season activities, such as overnight camps.
“When we moved up to camp, my job became easier. Aquatics is a high-pressure job and camp was totally the opposite,” she said. “Doug, on the other hand, was a one-person staff. He took care of the campground and organized work parties. He really worked hard at that job. The camp has become a year-round job. From March through November, we’re booked every weekend.”
She said the assistance she received from such co-workers as Tim Webb and Tanya Bowers-Anderson at the camp and Colwell at the main office helped make her duties enjoyable.
“When you surround yourself with great people, your job is easier,” she said. “That’s been my good fortune during my professional career. (The staff does) a great job and I get to be the rah-rah person.”
The evolution of the YMCA into a larger Grays Harbor operation, she said, has also been a positive development.
“The emphasis on connecting and caring about people is far greater today,” Simons said. “We’ve always cared about people … but we used to be more tunnel-visioned on maintaining specific programs. As a staff, we’re much more big-picture people.”
In retirement, she plans to keep busy coaching, farming and traveling. While she said she’ll miss Camp Bishop’s beauty and tranquility and her association with the campers, she is confident the program will continue under capable leadership.
“It’s been a great place to work,” she said. “I’m so blessed to have the YMCA as part of my life.”
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