Joy Juanita "Nita" Simmons

Nita was born to Auby and Jimmie Turner on October 22, 1932, in Eva, Alabama. She was a loyal servant to God and treasured her family and many friends.

In addition to her parents, Nita was preceded in death by her son Michael Dan Durrett, and sister, Jerrie Jeanette Gast. She is survived by her husband of forty-eight years, Michael J. Simmons of Gadsden; her children Steven Durrett of Attalla, Alabama and, Jennifer Durrett Thomas and her husband Jim of Cumming, Georgia; her grandchildren, Nicole Marsh Arnold, Dustin Durrett, James M. Thomas; her two great-grandsons, Cahlil Arnold and Cole Hollis; and her aunt, Nancy Yvonne Hall.

Funeral services will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 21st at Collier-Butler Funeral Chapel in Gadsden, Alabama. The family will accept friends from 11:30 a.m. until the hour of the service. Pastor Blake Jones will officiate. Interment will follow at Lawrence’s Cove Cemetery in Eva, Alabama.

“Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living… Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.” - Psalm 116:7-9, 15