Muriel Grace Simanek
Muriel G. Simanek U. S. Army Veteran
Muriel Grace Behringer Simanek, 93, of Winchester, Virginia, formerly of Denver, Colorado and Grand Island, Nebraska, passed away March 23, 2020 at Lynn Care rehab center in Front Royal, VA. on what would have been her 68th wedding anniversary.
Muriel was born to Edward Herbert and Grace Peck Behringer in Brooklyn, New York, May 11, 1926. She was the only daughter but twin sister to brother Walter Behringer. She graduated from Bayside High School on Long Island, NY, and completed training as a lab technician after high school working at Rose 5th Avenue Hospital in New York City. Muriel enlisted in the US Army in 1951 during the Korean Conflict. During her enlistment, she was stationed stateside at Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts. She advanced her training of lab/med tech during her service. She met her future husband, Eugene Stanley Simanek, of Columbus, Nebraska, there as he was also a lab/med tech. They were married March 23, 1952, at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City. Upon finishing her enlistment, in 1953, Muriel moved to Eugene’s home state of Nebraska.
William Simanek and Edward Simanek, twin boys, were born in 1954, but unfortunately did not survive. Muriel returned to the work force as a lab tech in the Grand Island, Nebraska area, working until retirement in 1992, having worked for Dr. Sloss in private practice initially, then working at the Cornhusker Army Ammunition plant while it was active during the Vietnam era, and finally for Dr. Adamson at the Lutheran/St Francis labs as a histologist. During those years they raised a daughter, Julie, and a son, Steven.
Upon retirement, Muriel volunteered and drove transport vans for the D.A.V., transporting veterans to appointments from the Grand Island Veterans Hospital to the Veterans Hospitals in Lincoln, Nebraska and Omaha, Nebraska, and to include hospitals in Kansas and Missouri. Muriel moved to Denver, Colorado to be closer to Julie and Steve and continued to volunteer for the D.A.V. and the Denver VA Hospital, earning several awards for miles driven and number of veterans transported. She continued to volunteer her entire time in Denver, until moving to Virginia in 2002. Upon moving to Virginia, she continued to do volunteer work for the Veterans Service Office in Martinsburg, West Virginia, working for Robbie Robinson and staff, assisted in filing and office work. Muriel loved to travel, and drove solo at the age of 84, to visit friends and family in Kansas City, Missouri; Denver, Colorado; Silver City, New Mexico and Tulsa, Oklahoma. She travelled 4400 miles in 3 weeks round trip with her beloved Pontiac Sunfire and a cell phone.
Muriel is a charter member of the Women in the Military Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, an active member of the American Legion, and the local Korean War Veterans Association in Winchester, Virginia. She was a member of Peace Lutheran Church in Grand Island and currently a member of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Winchester, Virginia.
Muriel was proceeded in death by her parents, her twin sons, her husband Eugene (1984), her twin brother Walter (2013), and sister in law Gwen Osborn of Red Oak, Iowa (2019). Muriel will be missed by her daughter and son in law , John and Julie Aemmer of Winchester, Virginia; her son, Steven Slade Simanek of Arvada, Colorado; granddaughter Rachael and two great-granddaughters all of Lincoln, Nebraska; sister in law Carol (Walter) Behringer of Pittsboro, North Carolina; brother-in-law Robert Simanek and his wife, Muriel, of Omaha, Nebraska; sister-in-law Judy Mascarello and her husband, Frank, of Omaha, Nebraska; sister in law Penny Schaffer of San Dimas, California; and several nieces and nephews.
Graveside inurnment, joining her husband, will be at a later date at Ft McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska.