Tereacy Marie Simmons

Life Legacy

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

II Timothy 4:7

Tereacy M. Simmons, the daughter of Elizabeth Armstead Rhodes (deceased) and Elijah Rhodes (deceased) was born on February 2, 1928, in Crocket, Texas. When she was very young, her family moved to Houston, Texas, where her father had a good job with the railroad, giving him steady employment throughout the depression. Tereacy and her only brother, Hurdis had a solid upbringing with parents that supported and backed each other raising their children to be respectful, polite, and kind to others, as well as hard workers.

Tereacy attended Wheatley High School followed by holding small jobs while attending beauty school so she could buy her own house. She worked it out with the man she was buying the house from and he added on a room for her beauty shop, where she established her business and did well. She married Franklin Simmons and they adopted one son, Carl, and had a godson, Reginal Wysinger, who spent much time at their home.

Over her life, Tereacy was initially in the Methodist Church as a child and later in the Baptist Church. But she was invited to Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in Houston, by one of her customers who became a good friend. That is where she met Pastor Kent and their family that joined that church and she became very active there. Later, when she moved to Spring, Texas, she joined the new Resurrection Lutheran Church where Pastor Franzmeier served, and has remained at Resurrection for years.

Tereacy loved to travel, making road trips or flying to places like California, San Antonio, Dallas, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Las Vegas, New York City, and she really liked the border towns in Mexico. She took a road trip with Yolanda and her great nieces and nephew to Virgina, Williamsburg, and Washington, D.C.

Tereacy’s gentle and caring spirit was known by all her friends and family, but they also knew that she was a strong woman who knew how to take care of herself.

Tereacy loved to cook and was always on the phone with her nephew, Leon, sharing recipes even when she was not able to cook. They would talk for hours about new recipes and how to make all types of pastries, cakes, and cookies. Before she became ill she would prepare meals and remove one from the freezer and within 20 minutes she had her lunch or dinner.

She was preceded in death by her parents, brother, and son.

She is survived by her nieces, Ann Rhodes and Meredith Bivins; nephew, Hurdis D. Rhodes, Jr. (Ruth); great nieces and nephews, Yolanda Merritt, Leon H. Warren, III, Brandi Rhodes and Hurdis D. Rhodes, III (Tamara); her 3rd generation nieces and nephews, Zoe Bryant, Kara Levy, and Leon Warren IV; her 4th generation nieces and nephews, Bianca Fields, Ivy Levy, Isai Levy, Bailey Rhodes and Hurdis D. Rhodes, IV; and a host of other relatives and friends.

A memorial service for Tereacy will be held Sunday, August 20, 2023 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Paradise Funeral Home & Cemetery North, 10401 West Montgomery, Houston, Texas 77088.