St. John residents rally support for Bob Simpson

St. John residents are rallying behind Bob Simpson and his fight with cancer. Simpson was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

Simpson works at St. John-Endicott High School as head of maintenance.

“He is often referred to as the 'main chief' here at the school,” said Amy Watt, a faculty member at the school. “He definitely keeps our school up and running.”

Simpson has worked at the high school for 32 years.

In an effort to help alleviate the costs of treatment, T-shirts have been made saying 'In this town, no one fights alone' to raise money for Simpson and his family.

Simpson's grandsons designed the shirt.

The shirt also features an orange ribbon, which signifies awareness of leukemia and kidney cancer.

Simpson's grandsons attend Sprague High School, and because of an inside-family tale, there is a pelican on the back of the shirt.

“The goal of this campaign is to get as many members of our community to wear these shirts as possible,” Watt said. “We want to support Bob in the costly upcoming treatments that are necessary for his current diagnosis.”

Residents and school staff members are encouraged to purchase the shirts.

Watt said the end goal with the campaign is to line Main Street in St. John with residents all wearing their shirts to support Simpson as he heads out of town to Seattle for treatment.

There is no set date of when this would be as of yet.

T-shirts are $12 and orders must be placed by Oct. 18. If interested, contact Watt.

A fund has also been set up with Lamont Bank of St. John, at Box 148, St. John.