Michael Siemon's Obituary
Sharon and David Green are sad to report the death of Michael Siemon in the early hours of Wednesday, November 1. He died peacefully in his sleep.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 11,1945, Michael moved with his family to Omaha later that year. After his graduation from high school in 1963, he studied math and dabbled in philosophy at the University of Chicago, graduating in 1967. He joined the Peace Corps in 1968 and taught math in Malaysia, where he fell in love with Southeast Asia. After leaving the Peace Corps, he entered UC Berkeley as a graduate student in math in 1971, receiving his MS in 1975.
While at UC, Michael fell in with a group that formed a choir at the Renaissance Faire, and was introduced to the world of the Society for Creative Anachronism; in that context he joined our household as Johann Heinrich Simon of Wernigerode (the Siemon family’s ancestral home). He served as dancing master, wrote poems for the College of Bards, and played a variety of early instruments. During this time he began working as a systems programmer in San Francisco and in Silicon Valley.
Michael lived with our family in Oakland until 1982, when the three of us and our friend Jody Lee moved to General Theological Seminary in Manhattan. While there, Michael worked for Bell Labs in New Jersey and for the New York Stock Exchange.
In New York, we all soon became actively involved in the world of the Country Dance and Song Society, especially English country dance. Michael joined Christine Helwig’s Chelsea English Country Dancers demo team and New World Sword. He took up the concertina, learning how to play for dances from Leah Barkan, band leader of Country Dancers of Westchester, and played regularly for the North Jersey English Country Dancers.
When the household returned to Oakland in 2002, Michael joined two display dance teams – Goat Hill Morris and Ring of Cold Steel (longsword)–both dancing and playing concertina. He also played concertina at BACDS dances and helped organize Fall Frolick English Dance Weekend as well as two Mendocino English Weeks.
Michael loved mathematics, dance, and music, both listening and playing. He also loved archaeology and travel, bringing back wonderful photos – from China, from Turkey, from a return visit to Southeast Asia, and most recently from Oregon, for the total eclipse. He was an excellent cook, and prepared most of our household dinners, as well as feeding various groups at the house.
Michael is survived by his Nebraska family–his brother Karl Siemon, sister-in-law Kathy, and nephew Craig; his sister Chris Wallace, his brother-in-law Bill; niece Emily, her husband Pete, and sons Vince and Jordan; and niece Nancy and her husband Jerry–and by his California family–David and Sharon Green, their children Lexy and Philip Green, their children’s spouses John Seal and Monica Avila, and grandchildren Johnny Seal, Morgan Avila-Bouldin, and Santiago Avila-Green.
He was a member of our family for over forty years.
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