The Simsons family today

The Simsons family, 2008

The Simsons family, 2008

Inta Šrāders, the eldest daughter of Albīns and Zelma, lives with her family in a suburb of Washington. She has headed up various projects and advisory committees (Boards) in one of America’s oldest and most significant community, non-party organizations, the “League of Women Voters”. In 1996, she was elected to the position of Head of the Office of Cultural Affairs (CA) of the American Latvian Association (ALA). Under her leadership the ALA CA published an archive handbook and started up the ALA Oral History Project headed by Maija Hinkle. Since 2001, Inta has been involved in the very popular “Open Door” Day Working Group.

Their son Aldis worked in the Californian State Government. In 1990, he helped the Northern Californian Latvian Association to organize the ALA Congress in San Francisco at the time when Latvia had just voted for independence, and in the following year he became the President of the Association. Aldis relates:

I got involved in this because I like the Latvian community, I am interested in the whole Latvian thing, because as a Latvian you go to some Latvian event and you feel as if you belong there even if you don’t know anyone. It’s like being in a family. You simply feel as if you belong.

Their daughter Vija Straumane participates in the life of the Latvian community in Des Moines. All of the Simsons family’s children are active “3×3” camp participants and regularly travel to Latvia where many of their relatives live.