Rita Campbell Simmons

Rita Campbell Simmons died at the age of 93 on Saturday, December 21, 2013. She went to be with our Lord and loved ones.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Monday, December 30, at St. Patrick Cathedral. Interment will be at the Garden of the Good Shepherd in Mount Olivet Cemetery. A rosary will be recited at 5 p.m. Sunday at Biggers Funeral Home with the family receiving friends afterward.

Rita was born January 1, 1920, in Texarkana, Texas, to H.H. and Winifred Campbell. She was a lovely person. As a young woman, she loved baseball and riding horses. At times, she rode her horse to school. She enjoyed life, was fun, humorous and smart. Each grandchild felt as if they were her favorite. She had a kind heart and helped many people. She was hardworking, industrious and resourceful. She encouraged independence and responsibility in her children. She was a homemaker and mother of 12 children. She worked as a county clerk during the day, and at night her passion was fixing houses. She and her husband loved being with their family at the Brazos River, spending many hours sitting around the campfire and floating down the river. In her later years she looked forward to visiting her daughter and family in Washington state.

Her children have respected and greatly loved her throughout her life. They know they were fortunate to have had her for such a long time.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William Reeder Simmons, and three children, Gwendolyn, Patricia and Harold.

She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Bill and Martha Simmons, Gary and Becky Simmons, Tom and Linda Simmons, Robert and Deborah Simmons, David and Marsha Simmons and Dan and Sheila Simmons; daughters and sons-in-law, Linda and James Welch, Janice and Randy Jordan and Barbara and George Hitzfeld; 24 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.