About Tiki-Kate
at Tiki Oasis 2007
Katherine "Tiki-Kate" Simmons was born on November 18, 1969 in Novato, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. She was the youngest of six children; she had four older sisters and one older brother. Her family calls her Kathy (Kate is a nickname she had with her tiki friends).
Her family moved to Southern California when she was young, and she grew up in Redlands, California, in the Inland Empire. Her father still lives in the house in which she was raised.
Kate had many interests beyond tiki—she loved Disneyland, and Crowded House, and Nancy Drew novels, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But tiki was the biggie.
The Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland was Tiki-Kate's introduction to the world of Polynesian Pop. She started collecting anything that had a tiki on it.
She fell in with a bunch of other tikiphiles through an online community called Tiki Central, where she posted as Tiki-Kate.
Kate was a hoot. She was quiet, but she was worth getting to know. She smiled readily. She said "fudge" when she was frustrated. She had a great, dry sense of humor. She hated monkeys. She was "nauseatingly punctual," per her friend Boris. She could run a bit hot and cold; she most definitely had a shit list, but she tended to be fairly quiet about who was on it, and no one seemed to stay on it for very long. She was extraordinarily particular about getting to the truth, and speaking the truth. She was simply a very upstanding, outstanding woman.
tiki in the wild
She loved traveling and exploring, and was always seeking to know new things about Polynesian Pop, both historic and current.
Kate helped run a site called Ooga-Mooga, a site all about tiki mugs. Her knowledge about tiki mugs was extensive, and she put a lot of care into understanding all she could about them.
She took up carving, and as was Kate's way, she went into it whole hog. She embraced the carving community, and they embraced her right back.
In 2008, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent treatment, and was in remission by midway through 2009. All looked bright, until right around New Year's 2009/2010. Kate wasn't feeling well, and a doctor visit brought the news that the cancer had returned: this time in her liver.
2010 was a hard year. Kate fought hard... incredibly hard. As Boris says, "She hit cancer in the face with a shovel!" She got out for events when she could, did a little bit of travelling, and even continued going to work. But the brightest spots came when friends came to visit her, and kept her up on all the latest news. She even made it out for one last Crowded House concert, just weeks before she passed.
Kate's treatments continued from January all the way to September. She was told by her doctor that the treatments weren't working, and that her liver was no longer functioning, on Monday, September 13. She began hospice care, initially in her own home in Yucaipa (near Redlands), and then in her sister's home in Redlands.
Kate passed away around noon on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, with her family at her side. Her ashes are in a very beautiful urn, made especially for her by her favorite mug-maker, Squid. It has gorgeous Papua New Guinea imagery, and looks like it came right out of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland.
Services for Kate were held at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church in Redlands on Saturday, October 9. Per Kate's wishes, the church was full of people wearing bright aloha wear. The services were followed by a luau at her sister's house.
We drank all her rum.
Aloha 'Oe, Tiki-Kate. You are so loved. Mahalo nui loa for all you were, and all you have given us.