Hays CISD Remembers District’s First Board President

“Hays Consolidated Independent School District is remembering Delvin J. “Red” Simon – namesake for Simon Middle School and one of the district’s pioneers. The district was saddened to learn that Mr. Simon passed away Tuesday night at the age of 91. He died just days after the district celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Mays 6, 1967, vote to form Hays CISD.” Tim Avoy

Hays Consolidated Independent School District is remembering Delvin J. “Red” Simon – namesake for Simon Middle School and one of the district’s pioneers.

The district was saddened to learn that Mr. Simon passed away Tuesday night at the age of 91. He died just days after the district celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Mays 6, 1967, vote to form Hays CISD.

When D. J. “Red” Simon was born to his parents, Hugo and Paula Simon, on September 24, 1925, there was no way the Hemphill Community farming couple could predict that their sixth and last child would one day make the mark he eventually did on his hometown. His record of service to public schools in this area, though, speaks for itself.

A 17-year member of first the Kyle Independent School District, then the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, Red Simon led both boards, including time as Hays CISD’s first board president.

As three towns’ school districts merged in 1967, two of them (Kyle and Buda) longtime bitter rivals, it was a time of local political uncertainty. Lesser men with smaller agendas might not have enjoyed the success that this newly-formed district did.

But Simon and his board had only the common interest of local students in mind and more than 50 years later, their successes are evident.

As did most families on the prairie east of Kyle, the Hugo Simon family grew cotton and corn and managed cattle, sheep, goats, and hogs. Red would admit in later life that he expected to do some farming, “but there would have to be something else.”

The family farm, located just a half mile north of today’s Simon Middle School, gave every indication of one day claiming a lion’s share of Red’s attention. But fate had other plans for this native son.

Red graduated from Kyle High School in 1942, saw brief stateside military service during World War II, and entered the auto business in 1946, serving as a parts helper in the San Marcos Ford dealership of Tom Sumners. His first assignment was sweeping out the department.

Two years later, on January 31, 1948, at midnight, Red and Louise Dupree were married by Brother John McKay of the Kyle United Methodist Church. They made their home in Kyle and they had two sons, Delvin Russell and John Reagan.

Red became a salesman for Jack Hughes, his dealership’s new owner in 1950, and after 15 years in the position, he bought a percentage of the dealership. In 1967 he and A.W. Gregg. Sr. teamed to buy out Hughes, and in 1974 he bought full control of his auto dealership, setting his professional course for the next 35 years.

First appointed to the Kyle ISD board to fill an unexpired vacancy in 1955, Red’s commitment to the district was quickly embraced by voters, beginning a regular pattern of re-election. The eventual consolidation of Kyle with Buda and Wimberley found Simon serving as Kyle’s board president.

Following the pre-planned resignations of all but seven now-HCISD trustees, he was unanimously elected to lead the new district’s board. He served as the Hays CISD board president until 1972, when he chose not to run for re-election.

Former Hays CISD Trustee Ralph Pfluger, who is now the only surviving member of the original Hays CISD school board, said of Simon, “I have a huge amount of respect for Red. He’s not a chest-pounder or an egotist, but he does have a lot of pride.” Looking back on his 1967 vote for the new board’s president, Pfluger said, “We knew he was just a fine, fine person. He’d done so much and had such a sense of duty to the schools—and such a sense of humor…. We all respected him as a successful businessman. He was well-suited for the job.”

Fifty years later Hays CISD has grown into a booming, forward-looking school district that hasn’t forgotten its past. The district began with about 1,110 students. In 2017, nearly 20,000 students called the district home. The success is due in large part to the contributions of D. J. “Red” Simon.