John Simmons

April 16, 1924 - May 1, 2011

Funeral services for Mr. John S. Simmons will be conducted Wednesday Afternoon 2 o?clock at Ivey Baptist Church Burial will follow at Snow Hill Cemetery with Military honors. Visitation will be at Williams Funeral Home of Gordon on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 from 6 PM to 8 PM. John Sidney Simmons, Jr., passed away peacefully at a hospice facility in Dublin, Georgia, on Sunday, May 1, 2011, surrounded by his loving family. Mr. Simmons was born in Eatonton, Georgia, on April 16, 1924 to the late John Sidney Simmons, Sr. and Elsie Knight Simmons. After completing high school, Mr. Simmons enlisted in the U. S. Navy and served during World War II in the Pacific Theater aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Albert W. Grant (DD 649) and was involved in several major battles in the South Pacific with the largest being the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The ship suffered 22 hits and during one battle, lost all power with 33 men killed and 104 wounded. He also served on the U.S.S. PGM 21, a mine sweeper, which destroyed a total of 347 mines all over the South Pacific. He achieved the rank of Quartermaster 2/C, U.S. Navy. Upon returning to the United States after the war, he received his education at North Georgia College in Dahlonega, Georgia. After graduation, he began his career in accounting at J.P. Stevens in Milledgeville, Georgia, where he met his beloved wife, Glenda (Youngblood) Simmons. Later he became head of accounting at Meadows Industries in Milledgeville. John and Glenda were married on January 1, 1958. Mr. Simmons is survived by his wife of 53 years, Glenda Y. Simmons, his children, Steve (Mary Sue) Simmons of Kennesaw, Georgia, Daphne (Chuck) Gilley and Jeffrey Scott Simmons of Gordon, Georgia; brother, Shelly (Helen) Simmons of Warner Robins, Georgia, sister, Joan Simmons of Milledgeville, Georgia, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and mother-in-law, Minnie Lee Youngblood, of Gordon, Georgia. He was preceded in death by his mother and father John Sidney and Elsie Knight Simmons Sr., and sister, Kathryn Simmons. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Serenity Hospice, 2601 N. Columbia Street, Suite F., Milledgeville, GA 31061; Alzheimer?s Association Georgia Chapter, 41 Perimeter Center East, Suite 550, Atlanta, GA 30346 or American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692; Dallas, TX 75284 or online at Heart.org.