John and Pat Simmons of Sherwood are together for eternity. Pat was born June 27, 1946 in Black Fork, AR and passed away December 23, 2020. John was born September 16, 1947 in Munich, Germany and passed away March 15, 2021. They were married November 14, 1974.
John is preceded in death by his parents, Joel & Dorothy Simmons. Pat is preceded in death by her parents, Melvin & Maggie Ritchey. They are also preceded in death by their grand son, Cody Simmons.
They are survived by their daughter, Donya Simmons and son, Roger Simmons (Kara). Also survived by grandchildren, Josh (Kanitra), Amber (Mark) and Julia (Michael), Kadeyn & Laityn. Surviving great-grandchildren are Landon, Brooklynn, Adalynn, Jayden, Piper, Zane, Jacoby, Shawn and Elijah. John is also survived by his sisters, Helen, Ann and Joyce. Pat has one surviving sister, Betty.
John was a Sargent Major serving in the US Army and Army National Guard for 32 years. John’s service includes Vietnam Veteran, 18th Engineer Brigade, 153rd Infantry including the Cuban Refugee Crisis, Personnel Senior Sargent with the Office of the Adjutent General at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, AR. He was honorably discharged in 1995. After his retirement he worked for the VA hospital for 15 years. After retiring John spent his time working odd jobs, spending time with his grandchildren and walking his beloved dogs.
Pat graduated from Acorn High School and attended college from Southern Arkansas University with a degree in English Lit. She worked as a clerical specialist for more than 20 years. Pat obtained her private pilots license and spent time with the civil air patrol. She was the first female scout master in the Boy Scouts of America.
Pat and John spent many years together. They enjoyed camping, fishing, square dancing and bowling. They adored their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their dogs.
John and Pat’s life will be celebrated at a later date with a private memorial.
10 Comments
I love y’all forever💖 i miss y’all so much. thank y’all for always being here for me and giving me everything i could ever ask for. y’all took care of me for my whole life and would always come pick me up from school and bring me food whenever i asked. and y’all were here for me when i was going through my bad times. thank y’all for the amazing beach trip and being able to make so many memories with y’all. i will forever look up to y’all and try to make y’all proud.
I love you both so much & miss you both so much. Who would have thought neighbors could become family. They both treated me & all my kids like we where family. So many memories with these two in the short period we lived across the street from one another. Our porch time became part of our daily Routine. Thank you both for your kindness, wisdom, & love. Until we meet again I love you both.
My heart simply breaks for you all. Never in a million years did I see this coming even 6 months ago. I’m so glad we got to know John and Pat. To know that someone else loved my grandbabies every bit as much as I do is a comforting feeling. I always knew as babies, they were in tbe very best hands during the week. What a blessing for the kids as well as for John and Pat.
Roger and Donya, you two can be very proud of the wonderful parents you have and know they loved you guys and your families with everything in them.
Thank you John and Pat for loving my daughter as your own as well. God bless and God speed.
these two were the sweetest neighbors we’ve had. they will be so missed❤️
I don’t even know where to begin……
I will cherish all the fun trips we had together. One of my favorites was camping at Pettit Jean. I love that we got to go to the beach together and search for seashells. Grandma loved her seashells. I love that Grandma thought me how to cook and made me meals anytime I requested them. I’ll forever miss you beans and cornbread with pan fried potatoes . She also thought lots about gardening. I would always call her with any questions about plants.
Poppy was always someone I looked up to. He was always such a strong person in my life and would do anything for me. I will forever miss is little laugh and when he would say “Boy”! Or when he called us his bucket heads. He was always joking around .
Thank you for all the lessons learned and the love you showed to me. I love that yall were able to love on my kids too. They will miss their granny great and poppy.
Love always
I don’t know where to begin……
I love yall so much and will greatly miss you both. I never imagined that this would be how I would lose yall.
I will forever cherish the fun camping trips and pow wows. All the trips to Mena to show me my roots. Yall always made sure I had what I needed. School supplies, shoes or winter coat. I will miss grandma’s beans and cornbread with pan fried potatoes. She would always make anything I requested. I cherish the cooking lessons from fried okra to making jelly. I will forever miss hearing “I need a tall person” or “hey Amber girl”. Poppy was always someone I admired. He always amazed me with his stories of things he had done through life from childhood to military to working at the hospital. He was one of the most had working people I’ve ever known. I will miss his little laugh and the goofy faces he would make. I’ll miss hearing him say “Boy”! He always made me laugh.
Jayden, Piper and Zane will miss granny great and Poppy.
I love you guys and will miss yall so much. I will miss hearing grandma say “I need a tall person ” or “hey Amber girl”. I will miss Poppy’s little laugh and the goofy faces he would make. I will miss my cooking lesson and sharing meals. Thank you for always taking care of me when needed. I always had everything I needed for school, new shoes on my feet and warm coat to wear. I see yall again some day and that will be a glorious day.
To my beloved brother John Simmons. I already miss you. Till I see you again. Love ya
So sad and unexpected. I sure do miss my brother. I’ll see him again one day.
I’m so sorry to hear about the death of this beautiful couple! I dated John in high school and after he came back from Vietnam! He was a wonderful Christian man. It was good to hear about his sweet life with Pat. Condolences to all the family! Love in Christ Jesus
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