Kinsey Simonton was born in Wamego, Kansas, February 21,1908, the son of Harriet Viola Deweese and Edgar Locke Simonton. He attended the public schools in Wendell, Idaho, and in 1925 enrolled in the University of Oregon. In 1927, he transferred to George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he received the degrees of Bachelor of Science in 1930, and Doctor of Medicine in 1933. He served his internship at Gallinger Hospital in Washington.

In 1934 he entered the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota, as a resident in otolaryngology and rhinology. He was appointed to the staff of the Mayo Clinic in 1937 and received the degree of Master of Science in Otolaryngology and Rhinology from the University of Minnesotain 1938. He was certified as a specialist in otolaryngology and rhinology in 1939, and became an instructor in the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine that same year. He was advanced to Assistant Professor in 1943, to Associate Professor in 1947, and to Professor in 1961.

Dr Simonton was an officer in the Medical Reserve, US Army, when he was ordered to active duty in 1943 with the grade of Major. Assigned to the 237th Station Hospital, an affiliated unit formed at the Mayo Clinic, he served in New Guinea and the Philippines and with the 71st General Hospital and 188th General Hospital in the Philippine Islands. He was released to civilian life in 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

In 1958, Dr Simonton became Chairman of the Section of Otolaryngology and Rhinology of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and became a senior consultant in 1968. Throughout his career he maintained a particular interest in diseases of the ear, and especially the mechanisms of hearing in airline pilots and others subjected to excessive background noise. Pediatric otology was also a focus of his attention, and he collaborated in the development of a screening test of hearing for preschool children.

Dr Simonton contributed extensively to the literature of his specialty, and served as a member and leader in several professional societies. A partial listing includes the Minnesota Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, President 1957; the Minnesota State Medical Association, Chairman of the Committee on Conservation of Hearing, and the Advisory Committee to the Selective Service System; The Deafness Research Foundation, Minnesota Chairman; the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, Committee on Conservation of Hearing, Award of Merit; the American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc, Vice President; the American Otological Society; the American Laryngological Association; the American College of Surgeons; the Communicative Disorders Research Training Committee of the National Institutes of Health; and the Society of Sigma Xi and the Sigma Chi social fraternity.

In 1970, Dr Simonton moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked in private practice until 1976. At the invitation of the Persian government, he then went to Shiraz, Iran, where for 2 years he taught on the medical faculty of Palavi University. He retired to Boca Raton, Florida, in 1979, and in 1988, he moved to Ponte Vedra, Florida, near Jacksonville. As the Section of Otolaryngology at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville was developed, he attended rounds, lectured eloquently on otology and on Mayo history, and created the original temporal bone dissection set at that site.

Dr Simonton was married to Anita Dunlap of Washington, DC, on March 30, 1937. She survives, as do their two children, Kay (Mrs Charles Urquart Foster of Duxbury, Massachusetts) and Bruce Dunlap Simonton of Des Moines, Iowa. "Simie," as he was known to many of his friends and colleagues, died at St Luke's Hospital on December 14, 1994. He was a skillful surgeon, a consummate gentleman, and a lifelong contributor to our art and science. It was our great privilege to know him as a colleague and a friend. Thanks for enriching this world with your many talents and gifts. You will be deeply missed and long remembered.