Memorials › Mamie Mae "Granny" Hardin Simmons

Mamie Mae "Granny" Hardin Simmons

13 Oct 1898 – 18 Jan 1986

Birth13 Oct 1898
Death18 Jan 1986
CemeteryChildress Cemetery
Childress , Childress County , Texas , USA
Added byBruce D White on 10 May 2007
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19314147

Bio

Mamie Mae Hardin was born to John Jonathan Johnson Hardin and Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Rhea near Blum in Hill County, Texas. She grew up in Blum and as a teenager, at Antelope Flat, in Briscoe County, Texas. Her family lived on the ranch of her maternal grandparents, John Deskin Rhea and Mary Jane Edens. John Deskin Rhea was a US Deputy Marshal and cattle rancher. Around the mid 1910's, her parents and the family moved to Childress County, Texas. As a young woman, after completing her schooling, Mamie worked in the Simmons' General Store at Tell, Texas, about 10 miles west of Childress. She also helped babysit the owners' children. In March of 1916, Alice Lura Diggs Simmons, the wife of the store owner, died in childbirth of her son. On 5 November 1916, Mamie married her widowed employer, Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Simmons. He was 47 years of age and Mamie was 18. They remained married for the rest of their lives. In 1917, Mamie gave birth to her first child and her second in 1919. In 1920, her husband sold his general stores and bought a farm, approximately 8 miles south of Tell. He grew cotton as a crash crop. They moved to the farm and built a house, from a Sears & Roebuck house kit. Mamie had four more children at the farm. She also adopted Tom's daughter by Alice. For the majority of the 1920's, they were successful farmers. Then the dual disasters of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl occurred simultaneously. By 1936, they had lost the farm and moved into the city of Childress. Tom applied for Old Age Relief, as he was near 70. Mamie worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) laundry. In 1942, Mamie purchased a house at 1600 Avenue D, in Childress, and lived there the rest of her life. By the late 1940's all of her children had married. Tom died in 1950, at 81 years of age. Mamie continued to work as a laundress and seamstress in Childress, until she retired at the age of 65 and was able to draw Social Security. She never learned how to drive and walked everywhere, or rode with friends and family. After she retired she poured herself into church, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was never a wealthy woman, in terms of monetary wealth. But she was rich in the ways that mattered. She was the kindest woman, mother, and grandmother. Every birthday, every child, grandchild and great-grandchild got a hand written birthday card. On Christmas, every great-grandchild received a Christmas card and a book of Lifesaver candy. She was deeply loved by all three of her daughters and her two sons. She was also deeply loved by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. As a young boy, I was deeply attached to her. To be held or cuddled by her, was to be enveloped in love. When Granny Simmons passed away in 1986, it was an honor and an act of love, to carry her to her final resting place. Her body stopped, but she lived on. Not just in a metaphysical way of Heaven, but in the real, tangible effects that her love had on her family and friends. To this day in the year 2025, a refrigerator decoration she made, is displayed on my refrigerator – made over 50 years ago. The world was a better place, because she lived and loved. --- Bruce D. White, Great-Grandson of Mamie Mae "Granny" Hardin Simmons --- 15 November 2025 She raised Sophenia Josephine "Doolie" Simmons, Thomas' daughter by his second wife.

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