Eddie Simone, Jr.

Eddie Simone, Jr.

1979 ~ 2020

Sorry to tell you that this is me. Eddie Simone, Jr. aka: Little Eddie.

I was born in Ogden, Utah on May 23, 1979. The very next day a girl name Cindy showed up. I was just a day old and crying. She picked me up and I felt the love she had for me. She put me in her car and took me home. I knew then I was going to be okay…she was going to be my mom. Six months later in a packed open courtroom it was official. My mom adopted me and I received the name, Edward Robert Martin.

It was mom and me living in Layton where I attended elementary and junior high. I had so many friends and I always felt so loved with everyone around me. When I was about 14 we moved to Riverdale. I started attending Bonneville High School. I started hanging out at The High Hat Cafe down the street from our home. I went there for a Coke after school every day. They asked me to start working there when I was 15. This is where I got my first start in the restaurant business.

At 16 I applied to work for a new restaurant being built in Riverdale. I was hired at Applebee’s immediately. I helped open that store and was sent all around the state opening and training at others. When I was 21 they were able to hire me as a Manager. Then in a few years I was officially a G.M. I’m so happy that I had 24 wonderful years with my Applebee’s family.

My mom had the same boyfriend since the day I was born. His name was also Eddie but I always called him “Dad-o”. He owned a bar in Ogden where my mom worked. I was 20 when my mom and dad got married. I was so lucky to have them raise me.

I called my mom one day and invited her and dad to a dinner I had planned. It was that day when I asked my dad if he would give me a gift that I always wanted. That was for him to also adopt me and give me his name. The adoption took place in December 2003 and I proudly carried the name Eddie Simone Jr.

It was love at first sight the first time I met Jill Rich at my job. On September 7th I wanted the whole world to know how much I loved her. Wearing the Oggie mascot costume I proposed to my sweet Jill. It was the 4th inning of a Raptors ballgame. I gave her red roses, took her hand and led her down to the bottom of the stadium close to the field. I took my Oggie head off and dropped to one knee. She said “I will” even before I got the words out. It was the best day of my life when she became my wife. As years went by I felt complete. I now have a beautiful loving family to be with. My beautiful wife, Jill, my forever Princess Violet, my little intelligent debater Kaylee and last but not least my son and best friend Tyson the Bossbaby.

Family means everything to me and I fought so hard to keep us together. But after a five month painful battle with having cancer for the second time, no matter how hard I fought the treatments didn’t work. This horrible disease took me away and devastated the loved ones that I leave behind. Cancer is the worst! It rips families apart! I took mine away from me and we are all so sad.

To my wife Jill, our children Violet, Kaylee and Tyson and my mom and dad, I know you are all hurting but I want you to know that I am still and will always be around you.

If you ever need to talk…I will hear you.

I love you all so much!

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 8, 2020 at 2 p.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends may visit with family on Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at the mortuary. After the services we will be taking Eddie on a little ride past three of his favorite places. Interment, Lindquist’s Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, 1718 Combe Rd. Please wear a mask or face covering and social distance the best you can.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Jill and Eddie Simone account at any Mountain America Credit Union.