Eleanor Morrison Simmons, 89, of O'Neil, Fla., passed away on Monday, April 9, 2018, in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Born on July 2, 1928, to the late Rev. Lenworth S. Morrison and Elizabeth Jenkins Morrison, she was the sixth of their nine children. Mrs. Simmons was baptized in New Zion Baptist Church and, after relocating outside the city with her family, became a member of O'Neal Memorial Baptist Church, founded and built by her father in 1947. She rendered lifelong service at O'Neal Memorial as a deaconess, Sunday School teacher, missionary, and mother of the church and remained active as the church clerk until her death. She was also a full-time caregiver for her youngest sister.
Mrs. Simmons graduated as valedictorian of the Peck High School Class of 1946. She attended Florida Normal (now Florida Memorial University) in St. Augustine and received her Bachelor of Science in Home Economics with a minor in science from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Fla. She began her 32-year teaching career in 1950 at Jerkins High School in Taylor County, Fla. In 1953, she married Johnnie Simmons of Perry, Fla. She began teaching at Pine Forest Community School on the west side of her native Nassau County in 1959. Following desegregation, she served on the first integrated faculty of Hilliard High School (now Hilliard Middle-Senior High). She joined the Yulee Junior High School faculty in 1975 and, later, joined the faculty at Fernandina Beach High School as a home economics teacher. In that position, Mrs. Simmons created a childcare development class in which her students received hands-on training in the fundamentals of early childhood education through an on-site preschool program. She named it Sunshine City Play School. She retired in 1986, qualified for her Child Development Associate (CDA) degree and co-founded and opened with her sisters, also retired teachers, the Rose-Lennie Developmental Learning Center as a nonprofit outreach of her church.
Mrs. Simmons was predeceased by her husband.
She is survived by her three daughters, Nanette S. Autry (Gary Sr.), Denise S. Jefferson (Edward) and Glenda S. Jenkins (Sean); four grandchildren, Gary C. Autry Jr., Jaron Jefferson, Maya Jefferson and Zavia Jenkins; two sisters, Juliette M. Knox and Mattie M. Johnson; and an extended family of adoring nieces, nephews and cousins. She also leaves to cherish her memory a large, multi-generational community of students whom she loved like her own children.
Mrs. Simmons' family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 13, 2018, at O'Neal Memorial, 474257 State Route 200 East, Fernandina Beach. Her homegoing celebration will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 14, 2018, at the New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 10 S. 10th St., the Rev. Jeremiah Robinson Jr., pastor, in Fernandina Beach, with the Rev. Stantley Palmer, pastor of O'Neal Memorial, as eulogist. Rose-Lennie and I Can Academy students may pay tribute to Mrs. Simmons by wearing pink or rose. Mrs. Simmons will lie in state at the church from 12:30 p.m. until the hour of the service. Interment will follow at a time to be decided on Monday, April 16, 2018, at the Jacksonville National Cemetery, 4083 Lannie Road, Jacksonville.
Huff and Battise Funeral Home