Vivian Y. Simons, nee Carroll, long-time resident of Beaumont, died Sunday, October 19th, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was eighty-nine years of age. Born in southern Louisiana on December 18, 1913, she was raised in Sour Lake, Texas, graduating from high school there in 1931 as valedictorian of her class. She graduated from Baylor University in 1935 with a degree in education. After teaching English and Spanish in schools in West Texas, she moved to Beaumont where she taught for a number of years.
During WWII she worked as a purchasing agent for the M. W. Kellogg Co. in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. During this time she met and married Edward Lockhart Hickey, who died in the war. She married Charles McLyle Simons in 1948 in Chicago and, after living in Mexico City, moved to Beaumont. They had two daughters: Diana Lynne in 1949, and Janet Carroll in 1955. Diana was killed in an automobile accident in 1972; Charles died of natural causes in 1983.
Following the birth of her children, Mrs. Simons returned to teaching and for some twenty years served in the South Park School system, retiring in 1977. While teaching, she earned a Master’s Degree in History at Lamar University in 1960.
Following retirement, she went to China and taught English at a university for a year and then traveled extensively in Europe and North America. Failing health caused her to move to Milwaukee in 1999, where she lived in St. John’s Towers, a graduated care facility not far from the residence of her surviving daughter.
Funeral services will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 25, 2003 at Calder Baptist Church with burial to follow at Magnolia Cemetery under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin, Beaumont. A gathering of family and friends will be from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, October 24, at the mortuary.
Mrs. Simons is survived by her daughter Janet Carroll Dabney; her son-in-law, D. Lyle Dabney; and their daughters Laura, Megan, and Hilary; as well as by her nieces and nephews, Donald Wells of Charlottesville, Virginia; Vivian Buehler of Beverly Hills, California; Robert Wells of Palo Alto, California; Becky Williams of Whittier, California; and Susan Bose of Alameda, California.
Memorial contributions may be made to St. John’s Home of Milwaukee, c/o Sybil Bell, Director of Development, 1840 N. Prospect, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202.