John Calvin Simmons

Posted on September 19, 2018

John Calvin Simmons entered into Heaven Sunday, Sept. 16, 2018, at his home in Tallahassee. He was born in Perry March 6, 1940, to John C. Simmons and Inez Townsend Simmons. John grew up in Perry, where he resided until 1980 when he moved his family to Tallahassee.

A consummate patriot his entire life, John joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school and served as a First Class Petty Officer aboard the USS Little Rock. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was deployed just off the coast of Cuba. After his military service he returned to Perry and married Marian Wheeler from Quitman, Ga., and began raising a family.

Always a devout follower of Jesus Christ, John shared his faith with others in many ways, including teaching Sunday school. He also held a great love for knowing and teaching science, having devised a narrative through which children could easily learn the periodic table – the Hydrogen Story for children, which he individualized for each of his grandchildren and others.

John lived his own ideals of personal responsibility, accountability, individualism and self-reliance. Most every home he owned he built himself. John was also a true entrepreneur, having started a successful communications business, and later in his career launching and operating a successful real estate brokerage that specialized in cell tower site acquisition in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.

Stubborn and charismatic, and with an eternally positive outlook, John was quick with a joke and an accomplished billiards player. Beloved by many in the community, his greatest joy and priority was his family. John’s immediate family left to cherish his memory are: his wife, Marian Wheeler of Tallahassee; his daughter, Carol Merchant (and husband Billy) of Tallahassee; his daughter, April Simmons (and husband Charles) of Charlotte, NC; his brother, Stevan Simmons (and wife Carmen) of Ormond Beach; and his grandchildren, John Maxwell Caskie, Atticus Brooks Caskie, Truman Grace Caskie, John Carson Merchant, and Caylon Mae Merchant.

A memorial service will be held in Tallahassee at Beggs Funeral Home on Apalachee Parkway at 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 19. Burial will follow at Veterans Memorial Cemetery immediately after.