‘One of the best!’

Ernestine Simmons - 78, Peachtree City

Someone once said that God couldn’t be everywhere, so He created mothers. Well, He gave our family one of the best! My mother-in-law, Ernestine Simmons, has been taking care of other all her life.

One day, she met a young American soldier who swept her off her feet, though she’d tell you she was the one who did the sweeping! Soon they were married. Her husband, Raymond, served 30+ years in the Army, commanding troops in Iceland and Vietnam. After the war, “Erny” as she likes to be called, came to the USA by herself on a steamer with their three children, to begin a new adventure. Their fourth child, a son, came along later.

Moving from state to state, base to base, as often as three times in a year, life-then as now-wasn’t easy. Army wives were expected to deal with new schools, new neighbors, whatever-without bothering their husbands about it.

- Juanita Simmons