Ruth married Dr.James Franklin Simmons, son of James Wiley Simmons and Sara Rainer.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - January 12, 1994
OXFORD -- Ruth Barwick Simmons, 97, retired insurance agent, died Monday at Graceland Convalescent Center. Services will be at 10 A.M. Thursday at Waller Funeral Home with grave side services at 3:30 P.M. in Greenfield Cemetery in Glen Allan. A former teacher, she was a member of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and had been an organist and music director in several churches before moving to Oxford in 1978. Mrs. Simmons, the widow of Dr. James Franklin Simmons, leaves two daughters, Mary Ruth Simmons Bartels of Istachatta, Fla., and Sara Simmons Davidson of Oxford, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild. The family requests that any memorials be sent to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church or a charity of t he donor's choice.
Article from The Oxford Eagle - Wed Sept 24, 1986
MRS SIMMON RECALLS LIFE FULL OF MEMORIES
With a mind still sharp as her crackling wit, a remarkable Mississippi homemaker who tired of teaching and successfully tackling the insurance business turned 90 years old last week.....
Born Sept 12, 1886 in a house still standing nears Mounds Plantation, LA. she was two years old then her family crossed the Mississippi River "frozen over in Feb" to live in Washington Co in the Mississippi Delta.
"I grew up attending a one-room school in Glen Allan..It was propped up on the outside with 2 x 4's so it wouldn't tip over. The school went through the eighth grade and so did I. There were no high schools.
She passed the entrance exam to the Industrial Institute and College, now MS University for Women in Columbus, and attended two years with an older sister. When their mother became ill, Ruth went home to care for her, took the reacher exam and started teaching school at 17.
"I taught at a school across Lake Washington, a long rowboat ride to get there. I lived at the school the owner's home, and taught in my bedroom. Board cost 25 cents a day for three meals. School lasted Tues through Sat. and I went home the other days."
Later, while teaching in a four teacher consolidated school in Glen Allan, she sold shamrocks for 5 cents each for "Pin the Shamrock on the Hat"game at the St. Pat's carnival. A gentleman standing nearby emptied his pockets of change buying shamrocks for the children while he talked with the teacher.
Soon afterward, the accomplished pianist who played the pump organ for the local Methodist church was offered the chance to go to New Orleans to learn to play the pipe organ. ..after two lessons she couldn't stand being away and returned home to marry the bystander on Aug. 15, 1923. He was a Grace doctor, a widower wiyj a daughter, Lucille. The new bride lived in Union with her husband and commuted to her teaching job. She quit teaching before the birth of Mary Ruth,the first of three daughters..
They left Skene for Sunflower in 1939 and bought a house in Greenville in 1942. Dr. Simmons who was in poor health for 18 years died in 1952.
"I had a lifetime teaching license, but didn't want to teach,..I decided to go into the insurance business while my husband was still alive, but didn't tell him that. To start I wrote burial insurance for the Wells Funeral Home in Glen Allan and Greenville. Later I wrote hospital insurance. We didn't get rich but we lived."
Through it all her girls were the "best and greatest blessing anybody ever had." ....
Children:
Mary Ruth Simmons, b. August 12, 1924, Greenville, MS.
Sara Clayton Simmons, b. April 19, 1928, Greenville, MS.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - January 12, 1994
OXFORD -- Ruth Barwick Simmons, 97, retired insurance agent, died Monday at Graceland Convalescent Center. Services will be at 10 A.M. Thursday at Waller Funeral Home with grave side services at 3:30 P.M. in Greenfield Cemetery in Glen Allan. A former teacher, she was a member of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and had been an organist and music director in several churches before moving to Oxford in 1978. Mrs. Simmons, the widow of Dr. James Franklin Simmons, leaves two daughters, Mary Ruth Simmons Bartels of Istachatta, Fla., and Sara Simmons Davidson of Oxford, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild. The family requests that any memorials be sent to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church or a charity of t he donor's choice.
Article from The Oxford Eagle - Wed Sept 24, 1986
MRS SIMMON RECALLS LIFE FULL OF MEMORIES
With a mind still sharp as her crackling wit, a remarkable Mississippi homemaker who tired of teaching and successfully tackling the insurance business turned 90 years old last week.....
Born Sept 12, 1886 in a house still standing nears Mounds Plantation, LA. she was two years old then her family crossed the Mississippi River "frozen over in Feb" to live in Washington Co in the Mississippi Delta.
"I grew up attending a one-room school in Glen Allan..It was propped up on the outside with 2 x 4's so it wouldn't tip over. The school went through the eighth grade and so did I. There were no high schools.
She passed the entrance exam to the Industrial Institute and College, now MS University for Women in Columbus, and attended two years with an older sister. When their mother became ill, Ruth went home to care for her, took the reacher exam and started teaching school at 17.
"I taught at a school across Lake Washington, a long rowboat ride to get there. I lived at the school the owner's home, and taught in my bedroom. Board cost 25 cents a day for three meals. School lasted Tues through Sat. and I went home the other days."
Later, while teaching in a four teacher consolidated school in Glen Allan, she sold shamrocks for 5 cents each for "Pin the Shamrock on the Hat"game at the St. Pat's carnival. A gentleman standing nearby emptied his pockets of change buying shamrocks for the children while he talked with the teacher.
Soon afterward, the accomplished pianist who played the pump organ for the local Methodist church was offered the chance to go to New Orleans to learn to play the pipe organ. ..after two lessons she couldn't stand being away and returned home to marry the bystander on Aug. 15, 1923. He was a Grace doctor, a widower wiyj a daughter, Lucille. The new bride lived in Union with her husband and commuted to her teaching job. She quit teaching before the birth of Mary Ruth,the first of three daughters..
They left Skene for Sunflower in 1939 and bought a house in Greenville in 1942. Dr. Simmons who was in poor health for 18 years died in 1952.
"I had a lifetime teaching license, but didn't want to teach,..I decided to go into the insurance business while my husband was still alive, but didn't tell him that. To start I wrote burial insurance for the Wells Funeral Home in Glen Allan and Greenville. Later I wrote hospital insurance. We didn't get rich but we lived."
Through it all her girls were the "best and greatest blessing anybody ever had." ....
Children:
Mary Ruth Simmons, b. August 12, 1924, Greenville, MS.
Sara Clayton Simmons, b. April 19, 1928, Greenville, MS.
Ruth married Dr.James Franklin Simmons, son of James Wiley Simmons and Sara Rainer.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - January 12, 1994
OXFORD -- Ruth Barwick Simmons, 97, retired insurance agent, died Monday at Graceland Convalescent Center. Services will be at 10 A.M. Thursday at Waller Funeral Home with grave side services at 3:30 P.M. in Greenfield Cemetery in Glen Allan. A former teacher, she was a member of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and had been an organist and music director in several churches before moving to Oxford in 1978. Mrs. Simmons, the widow of Dr. James Franklin Simmons, leaves two daughters, Mary Ruth Simmons Bartels of Istachatta, Fla., and Sara Simmons Davidson of Oxford, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild. The family requests that any memorials be sent to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church or a charity of t he donor's choice.
Article from The Oxford Eagle - Wed Sept 24, 1986
MRS SIMMON RECALLS LIFE FULL OF MEMORIES
With a mind still sharp as her crackling wit, a remarkable Mississippi homemaker who tired of teaching and successfully tackling the insurance business turned 90 years old last week.....
Born Sept 12, 1886 in a house still standing nears Mounds Plantation, LA. she was two years old then her family crossed the Mississippi River "frozen over in Feb" to live in Washington Co in the Mississippi Delta.
"I grew up attending a one-room school in Glen Allan..It was propped up on the outside with 2 x 4's so it wouldn't tip over. The school went through the eighth grade and so did I. There were no high schools.
She passed the entrance exam to the Industrial Institute and College, now MS University for Women in Columbus, and attended two years with an older sister. When their mother became ill, Ruth went home to care for her, took the reacher exam and started teaching school at 17.
"I taught at a school across Lake Washington, a long rowboat ride to get there. I lived at the school the owner's home, and taught in my bedroom. Board cost 25 cents a day for three meals. School lasted Tues through Sat. and I went home the other days."
Later, while teaching in a four teacher consolidated school in Glen Allan, she sold shamrocks for 5 cents each for "Pin the Shamrock on the Hat"game at the St. Pat's carnival. A gentleman standing nearby emptied his pockets of change buying shamrocks for the children while he talked with the teacher.
Soon afterward, the accomplished pianist who played the pump organ for the local Methodist church was offered the chance to go to New Orleans to learn to play the pipe organ. ..after two lessons she couldn't stand being away and returned home to marry the bystander on Aug. 15, 1923. He was a Grace doctor, a widower wiyj a daughter, Lucille. The new bride lived in Union with her husband and commuted to her teaching job. She quit teaching before the birth of Mary Ruth,the first of three daughters..
They left Skene for Sunflower in 1939 and bought a house in Greenville in 1942. Dr. Simmons who was in poor health for 18 years died in 1952.
"I had a lifetime teaching license, but didn't want to teach,..I decided to go into the insurance business while my husband was still alive, but didn't tell him that. To start I wrote burial insurance for the Wells Funeral Home in Glen Allan and Greenville. Later I wrote hospital insurance. We didn't get rich but we lived."
Through it all her girls were the "best and greatest blessing anybody ever had." ....
Children:
Mary Ruth Simmons, b. August 12, 1924, Greenville, MS.
Sara Clayton Simmons, b. April 19, 1928, Greenville, MS.
Commercial Appeal, The (Memphis, TN) - January 12, 1994
OXFORD -- Ruth Barwick Simmons, 97, retired insurance agent, died Monday at Graceland Convalescent Center. Services will be at 10 A.M. Thursday at Waller Funeral Home with grave side services at 3:30 P.M. in Greenfield Cemetery in Glen Allan. A former teacher, she was a member of St. Andrew's United Methodist Church and had been an organist and music director in several churches before moving to Oxford in 1978. Mrs. Simmons, the widow of Dr. James Franklin Simmons, leaves two daughters, Mary Ruth Simmons Bartels of Istachatta, Fla., and Sara Simmons Davidson of Oxford, 12 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild. The family requests that any memorials be sent to St. Andrew's United Methodist Church or a charity of t he donor's choice.
Article from The Oxford Eagle - Wed Sept 24, 1986
MRS SIMMON RECALLS LIFE FULL OF MEMORIES
With a mind still sharp as her crackling wit, a remarkable Mississippi homemaker who tired of teaching and successfully tackling the insurance business turned 90 years old last week.....
Born Sept 12, 1886 in a house still standing nears Mounds Plantation, LA. she was two years old then her family crossed the Mississippi River "frozen over in Feb" to live in Washington Co in the Mississippi Delta.
"I grew up attending a one-room school in Glen Allan..It was propped up on the outside with 2 x 4's so it wouldn't tip over. The school went through the eighth grade and so did I. There were no high schools.
She passed the entrance exam to the Industrial Institute and College, now MS University for Women in Columbus, and attended two years with an older sister. When their mother became ill, Ruth went home to care for her, took the reacher exam and started teaching school at 17.
"I taught at a school across Lake Washington, a long rowboat ride to get there. I lived at the school the owner's home, and taught in my bedroom. Board cost 25 cents a day for three meals. School lasted Tues through Sat. and I went home the other days."
Later, while teaching in a four teacher consolidated school in Glen Allan, she sold shamrocks for 5 cents each for "Pin the Shamrock on the Hat"game at the St. Pat's carnival. A gentleman standing nearby emptied his pockets of change buying shamrocks for the children while he talked with the teacher.
Soon afterward, the accomplished pianist who played the pump organ for the local Methodist church was offered the chance to go to New Orleans to learn to play the pipe organ. ..after two lessons she couldn't stand being away and returned home to marry the bystander on Aug. 15, 1923. He was a Grace doctor, a widower wiyj a daughter, Lucille. The new bride lived in Union with her husband and commuted to her teaching job. She quit teaching before the birth of Mary Ruth,the first of three daughters..
They left Skene for Sunflower in 1939 and bought a house in Greenville in 1942. Dr. Simmons who was in poor health for 18 years died in 1952.
"I had a lifetime teaching license, but didn't want to teach,..I decided to go into the insurance business while my husband was still alive, but didn't tell him that. To start I wrote burial insurance for the Wells Funeral Home in Glen Allan and Greenville. Later I wrote hospital insurance. We didn't get rich but we lived."
Through it all her girls were the "best and greatest blessing anybody ever had." ....
Children:
Mary Ruth Simmons, b. August 12, 1924, Greenville, MS.
Sara Clayton Simmons, b. April 19, 1928, Greenville, MS.
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