J. O. "Shorty" Simms

, age 101, of Abingdon died peacefully at 4 PM, Monday (September 8 )at the Care Center of Abingdon. He was born on August 3, 1907 at home to Harry and Nettie Simms, the third of ten children. There are 4 remaining siblings. He married H. Louise Parker on October 4, 1930 in Galesburg. She preceded him in death on January 1, 2004. They were married for 73 years. Shorty is survived by his daughter, Dixie (and Fred) Jenks of Monmouth; two granddaughters, Megan Jenks of Monmouth and Julie(Chris) Kettmann of Bettendorf, Iowa, two great grandchildren, Evan and Gavin Kettmann.. He moved to Abingdon in 1926 from southern Illinois at the age of 19 to attend Hedding College. He worked at Bond's Dairy in Abingdon and later for Meadow Gold. In 1931 he and his wife started a dairy business of bottling milk and making ice cream. Later they dropped the milk line and added a restaurant, Simms Dairy Bar and Restaurant, where they worked side by side for 41 years. Shorty joined the City of Abingdon Fire Department in 1933 and was elected chief in 1946. In 1933 the city had only two fire trucks--a pumper that connected to hydrants and a ladder truck. As people in outlying areas began to want service from the department, there was no money to buy a tanker to carry water to rural fires. The firemen held dances and raffles to earn enough money to build a tanker truck. Shortly after that they found their insurance didn't cover the equipment outside the city limits. Shorty visited PTA meetings in the schools surrounding Abingdon in an effort to get support for a rural fire protection district. In 1947, an election was held to form the Abingdon Fire Protection District, and it passed with less than ten"no" votes being cast by area voters. Shorty served as chief of the fire protection district until he retired in 1979. He later became a Trustee of the district and served 17 years in that capacity for a total of 64 years being involved with the Fire Department. He was a member of the Abingdon Christian Church. Funeral service will be at 11 AM Saturday, September 13 at Hinchliff -Pearson- West Abingdon Chapel. Burial will be in the Abingdon Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 pm Friday at the chapel. Memorials may be made to the Abingdon Firemen or the Abingdon Christian Church.

SERVICES A service summary is not available

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