JACK SIMMONS

Garland “”Jack”” Lee Simmons Sr., 69, son of Earl G. Simmons and Ida Mae Skaggs Simmons, was born April 13, 1934, at Red House, W.Va. He died April 8, 2004, at his home at Licking. Known as Jack, he married Vonna Sue Hamilton Dec. 24, 1966. They had three children. Mr. Simmons earned his undergraduate degree at Highlands University in New Mexico and his master’s at Drury University in Missouri. He taught at all levels, completing his career at Centralia High School in Centralia, Ill., where he was a popular teacher of art and English for nearly two decades. He will be remembered for his long white beard and hair, as well as his storytelling abilities and insightful sense of humor. He was an accomplished painter, sculptor and poet. As a teen, he traveled throughout Europe with the Boy Scouts. As a young man, he taught on an Indian reservation and was a sheriff’s deputy in New Mexico. Though the loss of an eye as a child prevented him from military service, he was a lifetime member of the American Legion. He had several years service with that organization. He and his wife collected antiques and enjoyed traveling to auctions and garage sales. Surviving are his wife; three children, Ida LaVonne Simmons of Licking; twins, Garland Lee Simmons Jr. of Scott Air Force Base, Ill., and Carolyn Sue Berry of St. Louis; and a brother, Gustavus Simmons of Albuquerque, N.M. Services were April 12 at the Fox Funeral Home Chapel with burial in the Boone Creek Cemetery. “