Bill O. Simmons
Bill O. Simmons, 89, of Sunrise Beach, Texas, died Nov. 24, 2012. He was born to Ernest Theodore and Addie Grace (Hood) Simmons on June, 23, 1923, in Eastland County, Texas. He married Bernice “Bobbie” Peters Simmons in Ada, Okla., on Oct. 24, 1943. They were married for 69 years.
Mr. Simmons answered his country’s call to arms during World War II as an officer of the 9th Air Force. He joined the reserves in 1946 and was recalled to active duty, serving as provost marshall at Perrin Air Force Base in Sherman, Texas, from 1951 to 1953.
He began is career with the Texas Department of Public Safety in 1947.
Bill and Bobbie lived in Austin, Gainesville and Corsicana before moving in 1956 to Midland, where he began a career in the oil industry as the owner of Simco Hydrocarbon Well Logging. Bill and Bobbie moved to Llano County in 1990. He served his fellow citizens as a Llano County commissioner, chairman of the Llano County Republican Party and was church council president of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Kingsland.
Mr. Simmons served on the Telecommunication Infrastructure Fund Board under an appointment by Gov. Rick Perry. He was an active member of the Llano County Republican Club, the Republican Party of Texas and the B-26 Marauder Historical Society.
Bob is survived by his wife, Bobbie; sons Bill O.Simmons Jr. and wife Pam of Midland and Paul D. Simmons and wife Kandi of Sunrise Beach; granddaughter Ellen Hargrove of Tulsa, Okla.; and great-grandchildren Claire Elizabeth Hargrove, Benjamine Pyton Hargrove and Audrey Grace Hargrove.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Joe Hood Simmons, Howard Wylie Simmons and Ralph Maurice Simmons; sisters Eula Mae Hittson and Blanche Lee Howard.
A visitation was Nov. 26 at Putnam Funeral Home followed by a Rosary. A Mass was Nov. 27 at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Kingsland. Interment is 10 a.m. Nov. 28 at St. Joseph Cemetery in Stanton.
An online registry can be found at www.putnamcares.com
Arrangements by Putnam Funeral Home, 145 Texas Ave. in Kingsland, (325) 388-0008.