Jean Simmons
Carolyn Jean Simmons was born in her maternal grandmother's house in Willow, Florida on August 11, 1934. Willow is now a ghost town in southern Hillsborough County, but was then the site of a prosperous sawmill, where her grandfather worked as bookkeeper. She was the first child of Ellsworth George Simmons and Carolyn Virginia (Eason). Her brother, Ellsworth George Simmons, Jr. was born two years later. Both daughter and son were named after their parents, but were always knows as Jean and George. The young family helped farm the Simmons family land in rural Riverview, Florida, living in a small wooden cabin with a two-hole outhouse conveniently located just outside the back door. Jean was never much of a country girl and particularly disliked the necessary trips to the outhouse. What she did love was spending time with her paternal grandmother, Artie Matilda Sweat Simmons, who lived on the same 300 acre farm in the "big house". Jean was a sickly child, and always credited Grandma Sim with teaching her how to be strong and live fully and joyously, no matter what. And that's exactly how she lived her entire life. Jean's father became a well-respected county politician and helped develop much of southern Hillsborough County, including Tampa International Airport, Busch Gardens and University of South Florida. Her mother was an accomplished seamstress, cook, and community leader. When Jean was still in elementary school, the family moved to nearby Ruskin, Florida. While glad for the move into town (and indoor plumbing), Jean was mortified to see her new home being transported by truck right alongside the school bus she was riding. While she had to miss many days of school growing up because of her fragile health, including rheumatoid arthritis, Jean was nevertheless a pretty and popular girl in high school, active in school government and anything social. She often sang solos at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, just across the street from the family home. Never fond of getting dirty, she still loved to visit the Simmons farm as often as possible. Jean liked things to look good and she had an early and lifelong talent for presentation, whether it was a coordinated outfit, complete with matching fabric-covered shoes, or a family dinner table, where napkins were cloth and no pots, jugs or bottles were allowed. Jean attended the University of Florida in Gainesville for two years, where she met her good friend, Margie Meadows. There is no photographic evidence, but there is a persistent family story about Jean and Margie on Spring Break at Daytona Beach, where Jean somehow lost her bra. Jean loved to have a good time and was the life of any party she attended or hosted throughout her life. She laughed readily and was always cooking up fun and creative activities. She was, in fact, perhaps "the most creative person on the planet", as her daughter, Lisa, often asserted. Margie introduced Jean to her brother, Alan, a young Air Force officer from Riverview. Jean and Alan Schuyler Meadows were married in Ruskin on October 17, 1955. They made their first home in Tampa, Florida, where Alan worked at McDill Air Force Base. Their first child, was born at McDill on September 4, 1956, joining her parents and the family dachsund, Nala, at their home in Tampa. Alan took a temporary job with Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, where their 2nd daughter was born on August 12, 1958. Back in the Air Force, their first son, joined the family in Knob Noster, Missouri on April 15, 1961. And last son was born January 14, 1966 in Spokane, Washington and was adopted into his delighted family three weeks later. Jean was an extraordinary mother. She loved children and "would have had a dozen" had her circumstances allowed. Not even her family knew much of the struggles she had with her physical and mental health, because she had such grit and intentional joy that it shone through any barrier. Though she wasn't as keen on cooking as her mother was, she never failed to prepare wonderful meals for her family, often with a quirky twist. She often served the children pigs-in-a- blanket or vegetable soup or even apple pie — for breakfast. Green eggs would turn up on St. Patrick's Day. The fondue pot was often in the middle of the dinner table. Picnics were a common occurrence in the Meadows household, and when the frying pan came out on Friday evening, the family knew they could expect delicious southern fried chicken and Jean's inimitable potato salad the next day, served on a fabric tablecloth from a well-stocked basket on the tailgate of the family station wagon. Family breakfasts always included a devotional and dinners were times for sharing and learning. There was the year she taught the family all the US Presidents, another year when the encyclopedia was used to learn random facts, and many years when Jean read James Whitcomb Riley poems or Brer Fox stories around the table in that lovely, slightly Southern drawl of hers. As a military wife, Jean good-naturedly packed up the house often. The family was stationed in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Bermuda, California and Washington before Alan resigned from the Air Force to fly for Pan American Airlines in 1967. With every move, Jean would put together the new home in record time, creating fun bedrooms for the children and inviting spaces for family and guests. ! When the family finally settled in Sebastopol, California, she put her heart and creativity into building a house. There was the fire pole that led from the boys' upstairs room to the downstairs laundry room. There was the kitchen table, built on a barber's chair that Jean had found, so that it went round and round and up and down. And there were no door knobs for quite some time, while Jean searched for the perfect ones. She planted lots of honeysuckle to cover the propane tank in the yard and had Alan make a fiberglass rock to hide the well pump. Though not a real lover of animals, she kindly tolerated a whole menagerie of pets, from horses to three dogs (at one time) to cats giving birth in the laundry room to mice and rats and rabbits and guinea pigs. What was good for the children was always her priority. Bridge clubs, church activities and parties were common occurrences in the Meadows home. One year, Jean hosted a full-blown Christmas party — in July. For a month beforehand, the family spent each evening around the dining room table making ornaments as party gifts. Then they moved to the kitchen bar to cut up candied fruit for fruitcake. There was a real live Santa, two Christmas trees (one made of aluminum with a rotating light to change its color) and every Christmas decoration the family owned being put to use. Several years, she hosted the church's Easter sunrise service at the house, the horses gazing curiously at the group gathered in the predawn mist singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", one of Jean's favorite hymns. In later years, her Halloween parties at the family cabin in Ellijay, Georgia were legendary. Jean and Alan divorced in 1975 and Jean moved back to Marietta, Georgia. She had worked in the hospital in Sebastopol as a ward clerk, so got a job training students at Blue Cross. She also enjoyed teaching Color Me Beautiful classes, teaching women how to use color to their best advantage. Within a few years, she had set up a retail children's clothing store in Lawrenceville, Georgia called Kim-K's Carousel. Because it was such a fine melding of Jean's love for children and good quality clothes and items, she thoroughly enjoyed her work with the store. Jean is perhaps best remembered locally as a successful real estate agent with Prudential. For fifteen years, she helped numerous people find or sell their homes. Because of her considerable social skills and her eye for beautiful things, she loved her work and was frequently in the agents' Million Dollar Club. Jean's New Year's resolution for 1989 was "to improve [her] social life." Accordingly, she attended a New Year's Eve dance at a large Atlanta church as the year began. She came home with two phone numbers — one for Bob and one for a kind, quiet man named Ron Odell. After a few dates with Bob, he disappeared from the picture, but Ron remained. Jean and Ron were married in Marietta, Georgia on August 4, 1990, the same day that. Jean and Ron spent a very happy 25 years together, first in Marietta, then in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron was her best friend, a constant support and trusted companion. Jean was very active in community service her entire life. During her years in Georgia, she served as a CASA volunteer, worked with Safepath Children's Advocacy Center, and developed and taught Life After Divorce classes for many years. She established the Jean Simmons After-Divorce Scholarship, to help people get on their feet again after a divorce. Under the umbrella of MUST Ministries, Jean created a backpack program for underprivileged children. The first year, she collected school supplies and backpacks and delivered them to about 50 referred children. By the time she passed the torch for the project, it had become an annual event that involved thousands, and included lunch, haircuts, games and face painting, medical and dental exams. Jean also served on the board of the Ellsworth and Mabel Simmons Charitable Foundation. Thousands have directly benefited from her wholehearted service. Jean was a fantastic grandmother to four grandsons and four granddaughters. She was a lasting presence for good in each of their lives. She and Ron would host the West Coast grandchildren one at a time, creating many special memories and building eternal relationships. The local grandsons grew up cosseted in her loving influence. She also adored her ten great-grandchildren. Jean began to exhibit signs of dementia about eight years ago and died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 2015 in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron devotedly cared for her and her family surrounded her with love and support throughout the long journey. Ron and her four children were with her as she peacefully slipped from this world into the freedom and glory that she now enjoys. Even at the end, she was "an anomaly", as her nurse phrased it. Her legendary determination kept her going long enough for all her children to gather at her side, for her loved ones to have one last chance to say THANK YOU to a most remarkable woman.
dignitymemorial.com
w/o Alan Schuyler Meadows m1955-1974
w/o Ron Odell m1990
d/o Ellsworth George and Carolyn Virginia (Eason) Simmons
Carolyn Jean Simmons was born in her maternal grandmother's house in Willow, Florida on August 11, 1934. Willow is now a ghost town in southern Hillsborough County, but was then the site of a prosperous sawmill, where her grandfather worked as bookkeeper. She was the first child of Ellsworth George Simmons and Carolyn Virginia (Eason). Her brother, Ellsworth George Simmons, Jr. was born two years later. Both daughter and son were named after their parents, but were always knows as Jean and George. The young family helped farm the Simmons family land in rural Riverview, Florida, living in a small wooden cabin with a two-hole outhouse conveniently located just outside the back door. Jean was never much of a country girl and particularly disliked the necessary trips to the outhouse. What she did love was spending time with her paternal grandmother, Artie Matilda Sweat Simmons, who lived on the same 300 acre farm in the "big house". Jean was a sickly child, and always credited Grandma Sim with teaching her how to be strong and live fully and joyously, no matter what. And that's exactly how she lived her entire life. Jean's father became a well-respected county politician and helped develop much of southern Hillsborough County, including Tampa International Airport, Busch Gardens and University of South Florida. Her mother was an accomplished seamstress, cook, and community leader. When Jean was still in elementary school, the family moved to nearby Ruskin, Florida. While glad for the move into town (and indoor plumbing), Jean was mortified to see her new home being transported by truck right alongside the school bus she was riding. While she had to miss many days of school growing up because of her fragile health, including rheumatoid arthritis, Jean was nevertheless a pretty and popular girl in high school, active in school government and anything social. She often sang solos at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, just across the street from the family home. Never fond of getting dirty, she still loved to visit the Simmons farm as often as possible. Jean liked things to look good and she had an early and lifelong talent for presentation, whether it was a coordinated outfit, complete with matching fabric-covered shoes, or a family dinner table, where napkins were cloth and no pots, jugs or bottles were allowed. Jean attended the University of Florida in Gainesville for two years, where she met her good friend, Margie Meadows. There is no photographic evidence, but there is a persistent family story about Jean and Margie on Spring Break at Daytona Beach, where Jean somehow lost her bra. Jean loved to have a good time and was the life of any party she attended or hosted throughout her life. She laughed readily and was always cooking up fun and creative activities. She was, in fact, perhaps "the most creative person on the planet", as her daughter, Lisa, often asserted. Margie introduced Jean to her brother, Alan, a young Air Force officer from Riverview. Jean and Alan Schuyler Meadows were married in Ruskin on October 17, 1955. They made their first home in Tampa, Florida, where Alan worked at McDill Air Force Base. Their first child, was born at McDill on September 4, 1956, joining her parents and the family dachsund, Nala, at their home in Tampa. Alan took a temporary job with Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, where their 2nd daughter was born on August 12, 1958. Back in the Air Force, their first son, joined the family in Knob Noster, Missouri on April 15, 1961. And last son was born January 14, 1966 in Spokane, Washington and was adopted into his delighted family three weeks later. Jean was an extraordinary mother. She loved children and "would have had a dozen" had her circumstances allowed. Not even her family knew much of the struggles she had with her physical and mental health, because she had such grit and intentional joy that it shone through any barrier. Though she wasn't as keen on cooking as her mother was, she never failed to prepare wonderful meals for her family, often with a quirky twist. She often served the children pigs-in-a- blanket or vegetable soup or even apple pie — for breakfast. Green eggs would turn up on St. Patrick's Day. The fondue pot was often in the middle of the dinner table. Picnics were a common occurrence in the Meadows household, and when the frying pan came out on Friday evening, the family knew they could expect delicious southern fried chicken and Jean's inimitable potato salad the next day, served on a fabric tablecloth from a well-stocked basket on the tailgate of the family station wagon. Family breakfasts always included a devotional and dinners were times for sharing and learning. There was the year she taught the family all the US Presidents, another year when the encyclopedia was used to learn random facts, and many years when Jean read James Whitcomb Riley poems or Brer Fox stories around the table in that lovely, slightly Southern drawl of hers. As a military wife, Jean good-naturedly packed up the house often. The family was stationed in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Bermuda, California and Washington before Alan resigned from the Air Force to fly for Pan American Airlines in 1967. With every move, Jean would put together the new home in record time, creating fun bedrooms for the children and inviting spaces for family and guests. ! When the family finally settled in Sebastopol, California, she put her heart and creativity into building a house. There was the fire pole that led from the boys' upstairs room to the downstairs laundry room. There was the kitchen table, built on a barber's chair that Jean had found, so that it went round and round and up and down. And there were no door knobs for quite some time, while Jean searched for the perfect ones. She planted lots of honeysuckle to cover the propane tank in the yard and had Alan make a fiberglass rock to hide the well pump. Though not a real lover of animals, she kindly tolerated a whole menagerie of pets, from horses to three dogs (at one time) to cats giving birth in the laundry room to mice and rats and rabbits and guinea pigs. What was good for the children was always her priority. Bridge clubs, church activities and parties were common occurrences in the Meadows home. One year, Jean hosted a full-blown Christmas party — in July. For a month beforehand, the family spent each evening around the dining room table making ornaments as party gifts. Then they moved to the kitchen bar to cut up candied fruit for fruitcake. There was a real live Santa, two Christmas trees (one made of aluminum with a rotating light to change its color) and every Christmas decoration the family owned being put to use. Several years, she hosted the church's Easter sunrise service at the house, the horses gazing curiously at the group gathered in the predawn mist singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", one of Jean's favorite hymns. In later years, her Halloween parties at the family cabin in Ellijay, Georgia were legendary. Jean and Alan divorced in 1975 and Jean moved back to Marietta, Georgia. She had worked in the hospital in Sebastopol as a ward clerk, so got a job training students at Blue Cross. She also enjoyed teaching Color Me Beautiful classes, teaching women how to use color to their best advantage. Within a few years, she had set up a retail children's clothing store in Lawrenceville, Georgia called Kim-K's Carousel. Because it was such a fine melding of Jean's love for children and good quality clothes and items, she thoroughly enjoyed her work with the store. Jean is perhaps best remembered locally as a successful real estate agent with Prudential. For fifteen years, she helped numerous people find or sell their homes. Because of her considerable social skills and her eye for beautiful things, she loved her work and was frequently in the agents' Million Dollar Club. Jean's New Year's resolution for 1989 was "to improve [her] social life." Accordingly, she attended a New Year's Eve dance at a large Atlanta church as the year began. She came home with two phone numbers — one for Bob and one for a kind, quiet man named Ron Odell. After a few dates with Bob, he disappeared from the picture, but Ron remained. Jean and Ron were married in Marietta, Georgia on August 4, 1990, the same day that. Jean and Ron spent a very happy 25 years together, first in Marietta, then in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron was her best friend, a constant support and trusted companion. Jean was very active in community service her entire life. During her years in Georgia, she served as a CASA volunteer, worked with Safepath Children's Advocacy Center, and developed and taught Life After Divorce classes for many years. She established the Jean Simmons After-Divorce Scholarship, to help people get on their feet again after a divorce. Under the umbrella of MUST Ministries, Jean created a backpack program for underprivileged children. The first year, she collected school supplies and backpacks and delivered them to about 50 referred children. By the time she passed the torch for the project, it had become an annual event that involved thousands, and included lunch, haircuts, games and face painting, medical and dental exams. Jean also served on the board of the Ellsworth and Mabel Simmons Charitable Foundation. Thousands have directly benefited from her wholehearted service. Jean was a fantastic grandmother to four grandsons and four granddaughters. She was a lasting presence for good in each of their lives. She and Ron would host the West Coast grandchildren one at a time, creating many special memories and building eternal relationships. The local grandsons grew up cosseted in her loving influence. She also adored her ten great-grandchildren. Jean began to exhibit signs of dementia about eight years ago and died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 2015 in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron devotedly cared for her and her family surrounded her with love and support throughout the long journey. Ron and her four children were with her as she peacefully slipped from this world into the freedom and glory that she now enjoys. Even at the end, she was "an anomaly", as her nurse phrased it. Her legendary determination kept her going long enough for all her children to gather at her side, for her loved ones to have one last chance to say THANK YOU to a most remarkable woman.
dignitymemorial.com
w/o Alan Schuyler Meadows m1955-1974
w/o Ron Odell m1990
d/o Ellsworth George and Carolyn Virginia (Eason) Simmons
Jean Simmons
Carolyn Jean Simmons was born in her maternal grandmother's house in Willow, Florida on August 11, 1934. Willow is now a ghost town in southern Hillsborough County, but was then the site of a prosperous sawmill, where her grandfather worked as bookkeeper. She was the first child of Ellsworth George Simmons and Carolyn Virginia (Eason). Her brother, Ellsworth George Simmons, Jr. was born two years later. Both daughter and son were named after their parents, but were always knows as Jean and George. The young family helped farm the Simmons family land in rural Riverview, Florida, living in a small wooden cabin with a two-hole outhouse conveniently located just outside the back door. Jean was never much of a country girl and particularly disliked the necessary trips to the outhouse. What she did love was spending time with her paternal grandmother, Artie Matilda Sweat Simmons, who lived on the same 300 acre farm in the "big house". Jean was a sickly child, and always credited Grandma Sim with teaching her how to be strong and live fully and joyously, no matter what. And that's exactly how she lived her entire life. Jean's father became a well-respected county politician and helped develop much of southern Hillsborough County, including Tampa International Airport, Busch Gardens and University of South Florida. Her mother was an accomplished seamstress, cook, and community leader. When Jean was still in elementary school, the family moved to nearby Ruskin, Florida. While glad for the move into town (and indoor plumbing), Jean was mortified to see her new home being transported by truck right alongside the school bus she was riding. While she had to miss many days of school growing up because of her fragile health, including rheumatoid arthritis, Jean was nevertheless a pretty and popular girl in high school, active in school government and anything social. She often sang solos at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, just across the street from the family home. Never fond of getting dirty, she still loved to visit the Simmons farm as often as possible. Jean liked things to look good and she had an early and lifelong talent for presentation, whether it was a coordinated outfit, complete with matching fabric-covered shoes, or a family dinner table, where napkins were cloth and no pots, jugs or bottles were allowed. Jean attended the University of Florida in Gainesville for two years, where she met her good friend, Margie Meadows. There is no photographic evidence, but there is a persistent family story about Jean and Margie on Spring Break at Daytona Beach, where Jean somehow lost her bra. Jean loved to have a good time and was the life of any party she attended or hosted throughout her life. She laughed readily and was always cooking up fun and creative activities. She was, in fact, perhaps "the most creative person on the planet", as her daughter, Lisa, often asserted. Margie introduced Jean to her brother, Alan, a young Air Force officer from Riverview. Jean and Alan Schuyler Meadows were married in Ruskin on October 17, 1955. They made their first home in Tampa, Florida, where Alan worked at McDill Air Force Base. Their first child, was born at McDill on September 4, 1956, joining her parents and the family dachsund, Nala, at their home in Tampa. Alan took a temporary job with Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, where their 2nd daughter was born on August 12, 1958. Back in the Air Force, their first son, joined the family in Knob Noster, Missouri on April 15, 1961. And last son was born January 14, 1966 in Spokane, Washington and was adopted into his delighted family three weeks later. Jean was an extraordinary mother. She loved children and "would have had a dozen" had her circumstances allowed. Not even her family knew much of the struggles she had with her physical and mental health, because she had such grit and intentional joy that it shone through any barrier. Though she wasn't as keen on cooking as her mother was, she never failed to prepare wonderful meals for her family, often with a quirky twist. She often served the children pigs-in-a- blanket or vegetable soup or even apple pie — for breakfast. Green eggs would turn up on St. Patrick's Day. The fondue pot was often in the middle of the dinner table. Picnics were a common occurrence in the Meadows household, and when the frying pan came out on Friday evening, the family knew they could expect delicious southern fried chicken and Jean's inimitable potato salad the next day, served on a fabric tablecloth from a well-stocked basket on the tailgate of the family station wagon. Family breakfasts always included a devotional and dinners were times for sharing and learning. There was the year she taught the family all the US Presidents, another year when the encyclopedia was used to learn random facts, and many years when Jean read James Whitcomb Riley poems or Brer Fox stories around the table in that lovely, slightly Southern drawl of hers. As a military wife, Jean good-naturedly packed up the house often. The family was stationed in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Bermuda, California and Washington before Alan resigned from the Air Force to fly for Pan American Airlines in 1967. With every move, Jean would put together the new home in record time, creating fun bedrooms for the children and inviting spaces for family and guests. ! When the family finally settled in Sebastopol, California, she put her heart and creativity into building a house. There was the fire pole that led from the boys' upstairs room to the downstairs laundry room. There was the kitchen table, built on a barber's chair that Jean had found, so that it went round and round and up and down. And there were no door knobs for quite some time, while Jean searched for the perfect ones. She planted lots of honeysuckle to cover the propane tank in the yard and had Alan make a fiberglass rock to hide the well pump. Though not a real lover of animals, she kindly tolerated a whole menagerie of pets, from horses to three dogs (at one time) to cats giving birth in the laundry room to mice and rats and rabbits and guinea pigs. What was good for the children was always her priority. Bridge clubs, church activities and parties were common occurrences in the Meadows home. One year, Jean hosted a full-blown Christmas party — in July. For a month beforehand, the family spent each evening around the dining room table making ornaments as party gifts. Then they moved to the kitchen bar to cut up candied fruit for fruitcake. There was a real live Santa, two Christmas trees (one made of aluminum with a rotating light to change its color) and every Christmas decoration the family owned being put to use. Several years, she hosted the church's Easter sunrise service at the house, the horses gazing curiously at the group gathered in the predawn mist singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", one of Jean's favorite hymns. In later years, her Halloween parties at the family cabin in Ellijay, Georgia were legendary. Jean and Alan divorced in 1975 and Jean moved back to Marietta, Georgia. She had worked in the hospital in Sebastopol as a ward clerk, so got a job training students at Blue Cross. She also enjoyed teaching Color Me Beautiful classes, teaching women how to use color to their best advantage. Within a few years, she had set up a retail children's clothing store in Lawrenceville, Georgia called Kim-K's Carousel. Because it was such a fine melding of Jean's love for children and good quality clothes and items, she thoroughly enjoyed her work with the store. Jean is perhaps best remembered locally as a successful real estate agent with Prudential. For fifteen years, she helped numerous people find or sell their homes. Because of her considerable social skills and her eye for beautiful things, she loved her work and was frequently in the agents' Million Dollar Club. Jean's New Year's resolution for 1989 was "to improve [her] social life." Accordingly, she attended a New Year's Eve dance at a large Atlanta church as the year began. She came home with two phone numbers — one for Bob and one for a kind, quiet man named Ron Odell. After a few dates with Bob, he disappeared from the picture, but Ron remained. Jean and Ron were married in Marietta, Georgia on August 4, 1990, the same day that. Jean and Ron spent a very happy 25 years together, first in Marietta, then in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron was her best friend, a constant support and trusted companion. Jean was very active in community service her entire life. During her years in Georgia, she served as a CASA volunteer, worked with Safepath Children's Advocacy Center, and developed and taught Life After Divorce classes for many years. She established the Jean Simmons After-Divorce Scholarship, to help people get on their feet again after a divorce. Under the umbrella of MUST Ministries, Jean created a backpack program for underprivileged children. The first year, she collected school supplies and backpacks and delivered them to about 50 referred children. By the time she passed the torch for the project, it had become an annual event that involved thousands, and included lunch, haircuts, games and face painting, medical and dental exams. Jean also served on the board of the Ellsworth and Mabel Simmons Charitable Foundation. Thousands have directly benefited from her wholehearted service. Jean was a fantastic grandmother to four grandsons and four granddaughters. She was a lasting presence for good in each of their lives. She and Ron would host the West Coast grandchildren one at a time, creating many special memories and building eternal relationships. The local grandsons grew up cosseted in her loving influence. She also adored her ten great-grandchildren. Jean began to exhibit signs of dementia about eight years ago and died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 2015 in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron devotedly cared for her and her family surrounded her with love and support throughout the long journey. Ron and her four children were with her as she peacefully slipped from this world into the freedom and glory that she now enjoys. Even at the end, she was "an anomaly", as her nurse phrased it. Her legendary determination kept her going long enough for all her children to gather at her side, for her loved ones to have one last chance to say THANK YOU to a most remarkable woman.
dignitymemorial.com
w/o Alan Schuyler Meadows m1955-1974
w/o Ron Odell m1990
d/o Ellsworth George and Carolyn Virginia (Eason) Simmons
Carolyn Jean Simmons was born in her maternal grandmother's house in Willow, Florida on August 11, 1934. Willow is now a ghost town in southern Hillsborough County, but was then the site of a prosperous sawmill, where her grandfather worked as bookkeeper. She was the first child of Ellsworth George Simmons and Carolyn Virginia (Eason). Her brother, Ellsworth George Simmons, Jr. was born two years later. Both daughter and son were named after their parents, but were always knows as Jean and George. The young family helped farm the Simmons family land in rural Riverview, Florida, living in a small wooden cabin with a two-hole outhouse conveniently located just outside the back door. Jean was never much of a country girl and particularly disliked the necessary trips to the outhouse. What she did love was spending time with her paternal grandmother, Artie Matilda Sweat Simmons, who lived on the same 300 acre farm in the "big house". Jean was a sickly child, and always credited Grandma Sim with teaching her how to be strong and live fully and joyously, no matter what. And that's exactly how she lived her entire life. Jean's father became a well-respected county politician and helped develop much of southern Hillsborough County, including Tampa International Airport, Busch Gardens and University of South Florida. Her mother was an accomplished seamstress, cook, and community leader. When Jean was still in elementary school, the family moved to nearby Ruskin, Florida. While glad for the move into town (and indoor plumbing), Jean was mortified to see her new home being transported by truck right alongside the school bus she was riding. While she had to miss many days of school growing up because of her fragile health, including rheumatoid arthritis, Jean was nevertheless a pretty and popular girl in high school, active in school government and anything social. She often sang solos at the Ruskin United Methodist Church, just across the street from the family home. Never fond of getting dirty, she still loved to visit the Simmons farm as often as possible. Jean liked things to look good and she had an early and lifelong talent for presentation, whether it was a coordinated outfit, complete with matching fabric-covered shoes, or a family dinner table, where napkins were cloth and no pots, jugs or bottles were allowed. Jean attended the University of Florida in Gainesville for two years, where she met her good friend, Margie Meadows. There is no photographic evidence, but there is a persistent family story about Jean and Margie on Spring Break at Daytona Beach, where Jean somehow lost her bra. Jean loved to have a good time and was the life of any party she attended or hosted throughout her life. She laughed readily and was always cooking up fun and creative activities. She was, in fact, perhaps "the most creative person on the planet", as her daughter, Lisa, often asserted. Margie introduced Jean to her brother, Alan, a young Air Force officer from Riverview. Jean and Alan Schuyler Meadows were married in Ruskin on October 17, 1955. They made their first home in Tampa, Florida, where Alan worked at McDill Air Force Base. Their first child, was born at McDill on September 4, 1956, joining her parents and the family dachsund, Nala, at their home in Tampa. Alan took a temporary job with Lockheed in Marietta, Georgia, where their 2nd daughter was born on August 12, 1958. Back in the Air Force, their first son, joined the family in Knob Noster, Missouri on April 15, 1961. And last son was born January 14, 1966 in Spokane, Washington and was adopted into his delighted family three weeks later. Jean was an extraordinary mother. She loved children and "would have had a dozen" had her circumstances allowed. Not even her family knew much of the struggles she had with her physical and mental health, because she had such grit and intentional joy that it shone through any barrier. Though she wasn't as keen on cooking as her mother was, she never failed to prepare wonderful meals for her family, often with a quirky twist. She often served the children pigs-in-a- blanket or vegetable soup or even apple pie — for breakfast. Green eggs would turn up on St. Patrick's Day. The fondue pot was often in the middle of the dinner table. Picnics were a common occurrence in the Meadows household, and when the frying pan came out on Friday evening, the family knew they could expect delicious southern fried chicken and Jean's inimitable potato salad the next day, served on a fabric tablecloth from a well-stocked basket on the tailgate of the family station wagon. Family breakfasts always included a devotional and dinners were times for sharing and learning. There was the year she taught the family all the US Presidents, another year when the encyclopedia was used to learn random facts, and many years when Jean read James Whitcomb Riley poems or Brer Fox stories around the table in that lovely, slightly Southern drawl of hers. As a military wife, Jean good-naturedly packed up the house often. The family was stationed in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, Bermuda, California and Washington before Alan resigned from the Air Force to fly for Pan American Airlines in 1967. With every move, Jean would put together the new home in record time, creating fun bedrooms for the children and inviting spaces for family and guests. ! When the family finally settled in Sebastopol, California, she put her heart and creativity into building a house. There was the fire pole that led from the boys' upstairs room to the downstairs laundry room. There was the kitchen table, built on a barber's chair that Jean had found, so that it went round and round and up and down. And there were no door knobs for quite some time, while Jean searched for the perfect ones. She planted lots of honeysuckle to cover the propane tank in the yard and had Alan make a fiberglass rock to hide the well pump. Though not a real lover of animals, she kindly tolerated a whole menagerie of pets, from horses to three dogs (at one time) to cats giving birth in the laundry room to mice and rats and rabbits and guinea pigs. What was good for the children was always her priority. Bridge clubs, church activities and parties were common occurrences in the Meadows home. One year, Jean hosted a full-blown Christmas party — in July. For a month beforehand, the family spent each evening around the dining room table making ornaments as party gifts. Then they moved to the kitchen bar to cut up candied fruit for fruitcake. There was a real live Santa, two Christmas trees (one made of aluminum with a rotating light to change its color) and every Christmas decoration the family owned being put to use. Several years, she hosted the church's Easter sunrise service at the house, the horses gazing curiously at the group gathered in the predawn mist singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", one of Jean's favorite hymns. In later years, her Halloween parties at the family cabin in Ellijay, Georgia were legendary. Jean and Alan divorced in 1975 and Jean moved back to Marietta, Georgia. She had worked in the hospital in Sebastopol as a ward clerk, so got a job training students at Blue Cross. She also enjoyed teaching Color Me Beautiful classes, teaching women how to use color to their best advantage. Within a few years, she had set up a retail children's clothing store in Lawrenceville, Georgia called Kim-K's Carousel. Because it was such a fine melding of Jean's love for children and good quality clothes and items, she thoroughly enjoyed her work with the store. Jean is perhaps best remembered locally as a successful real estate agent with Prudential. For fifteen years, she helped numerous people find or sell their homes. Because of her considerable social skills and her eye for beautiful things, she loved her work and was frequently in the agents' Million Dollar Club. Jean's New Year's resolution for 1989 was "to improve [her] social life." Accordingly, she attended a New Year's Eve dance at a large Atlanta church as the year began. She came home with two phone numbers — one for Bob and one for a kind, quiet man named Ron Odell. After a few dates with Bob, he disappeared from the picture, but Ron remained. Jean and Ron were married in Marietta, Georgia on August 4, 1990, the same day that. Jean and Ron spent a very happy 25 years together, first in Marietta, then in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron was her best friend, a constant support and trusted companion. Jean was very active in community service her entire life. During her years in Georgia, she served as a CASA volunteer, worked with Safepath Children's Advocacy Center, and developed and taught Life After Divorce classes for many years. She established the Jean Simmons After-Divorce Scholarship, to help people get on their feet again after a divorce. Under the umbrella of MUST Ministries, Jean created a backpack program for underprivileged children. The first year, she collected school supplies and backpacks and delivered them to about 50 referred children. By the time she passed the torch for the project, it had become an annual event that involved thousands, and included lunch, haircuts, games and face painting, medical and dental exams. Jean also served on the board of the Ellsworth and Mabel Simmons Charitable Foundation. Thousands have directly benefited from her wholehearted service. Jean was a fantastic grandmother to four grandsons and four granddaughters. She was a lasting presence for good in each of their lives. She and Ron would host the West Coast grandchildren one at a time, creating many special memories and building eternal relationships. The local grandsons grew up cosseted in her loving influence. She also adored her ten great-grandchildren. Jean began to exhibit signs of dementia about eight years ago and died of Alzheimer's disease on November 10, 2015 in Woodstock, Georgia. Ron devotedly cared for her and her family surrounded her with love and support throughout the long journey. Ron and her four children were with her as she peacefully slipped from this world into the freedom and glory that she now enjoys. Even at the end, she was "an anomaly", as her nurse phrased it. Her legendary determination kept her going long enough for all her children to gather at her side, for her loved ones to have one last chance to say THANK YOU to a most remarkable woman.
dignitymemorial.com
w/o Alan Schuyler Meadows m1955-1974
w/o Ron Odell m1990
d/o Ellsworth George and Carolyn Virginia (Eason) Simmons
Inscription
Faith Family Creativity & Service
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
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