Mavis Lee Simmons

Mavis Lee Simmons departed this life on Monday, June 27, in Tupelo, Miss. She was 87. Born on June 23, 1924, in Walnut, Miss., Tippah County, to Henry Herman Gunn and Mamie Lee Gunn, Mavis was a 1946 graduate of Blue Mountain College in Blue Mountain, Miss. After college, she taught as a student teacher at Hickory Flat, Miss. She married then"Capt. Robert Wyatt Simmons II of the U.S. Army Air Corps (later a Lt. Col. in the Air Force Reserve), and moved to Texas in 1948. She obtained a masters degree in education in 1951 from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Tex. She found her passion teaching first grade, which she did for the majority of her career, in a variety of Texas towns, including Eagle Pass, Fort Stockton, Somerville, Alpine and Gilmer. She taught countless students in a variety of disciplines during her 36-year teaching career. Mavis had a special interest in early childhood education and special-needs students. She resided in Gilmer from 1977 to 2011. Born to parents who she says "always had a book in their hands," Mavis was an avid and discerning reader and a passionate student of American history. She was proud of her membership in Daughters of the American Revolution, serving as president of the Capt. Thomas R. Black chapter in Gilmer. She was also a member of Texas State Teachers Association and the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, the international honor society for women educators. In 2010, she received a Dean"s Roundtable Award from Texas A&M"s College of Education, honoring her dedication to teaching. The only girl of five children, she was raised a Baptist but worshiped in Methodist churches all her adult life. Mavis is survived by her six children, Sue Ann Lockard of College Station, Tex., Robert Wyatt Simmons III of Manor, Tex., Margaret Gaye Gibson of Tupelo, Miss., Linda Lee Forrester of Gilmer, Tex., Sharon Grace Hornfischer of Austin, Tex., and Joy Elise Simmons of Brookshire, Tex.; fifteen grandchildren, Marcus James Lockard Jr., Melissa Suzanne Lockard Daigneault, Lauren Grace Lockard Collins, Robert Wyatt Simmons IV, Ryan William Simmons, Emily Elizabeth Simmons and Ellen Ruth Simmons, Michael Lee Gibson, Megan Elise Gibson Herndon, Anne Corinne Forrester, John Winston Forrester, Clarise Angelee Forrester, David James Hornfischer, Grace Ann Hornfischer, and Henry Hutchins Hornfischer; three great-grandchildren, Jillian Marie Simmons, Connor Lockard Daigneault, and Carolina Grace Daigneault; and by her brothers Henry Sewell Gunn and Larry Herman Gunn of Walnut, Miss. She is predeceased by her brothers James Curtis Gunn and Raymond Godwin Gunn, and by her husband, Robert Wyatt Simmons II, who passed away in 1984. There be a visitation on Friday, July 1, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Croley Funeral Home in Gilmer, Tex. Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 2, at First United Methodist Church in Gilmer and burial to follow at Sunset Memorial Park. Memorials may be made to Brookwood Community, 1752 Fm 1489, Brookshire, Texas 77423