Violet Simmons: ‘A remarkable woman’

MILLERTON — For most teachers the capacity to influence students ends as they walk out the classroom doors and the teacher clears the board for the final time before moving into retirement.

That was not the case, however, for Violet Simmons, whose impact on the community and the world continued well after she completed her 48 years of service in schools throughout North East.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex, Ed Downey, president of the North East Historical Society, presented the following information via Power Point at the society’s annual meeting, detailing the life of “a remarkable woman” who challenged all to utilize whatever gifts they might have been given and, as former student Patricia Fernandez once observed, “go out into the world and do great things.”

Born on March 3, 1911, Simmons lived her entire life in Millerton with the exception of four years at the State College at Albany and a short time at Noble Horizons before she passed away one day after her 90th birthday, and was one of the first four graduates of the Elm Avenue School.

In her valedictory address, she forecast her meticulous approach to the classroom quoting Michelangelo who once explained to a friend who questioned the time he spent reworking the arm of a statue, “Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle.”
Downey noted she focused on enrichment in which students learned “concepts as well as facts,” and believed “You get what you demand.”

Forever curious and always at home in the classroom, Simmons demanded as much of herself as of her students, teaching and learning, doing graduate work at New York University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University, Vassar College and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

When Simmons moved from the elementary level classes to social studies at the newly created Webutuck School she stopped using textbooks, turning instead to original sources and books — either required or student selected — which she believed added diversity and liveliness to classroom discussions.

She arranged for students to interview experts in the field being studied including part-time Amenia resident and civil rights Giant Thurgood Marshall.

Downey noted Simmons believed “From those to whom much is given, much is expected,” so when she became legally blind, she continued to teach for 20 years with the aid of a jeweler’s glass and eventually an assistant who read students’ work and recorded her comments.

Her service to her students started early when, as she began teaching, Simmons was required — as all teachers were — to contribute $100 to a student milk fund from her salary of $1,200. Taking care of her pupils continued when, upon her retirement, former students and community members attended a sold out dinner for 200 honoring her and raising funds for scholarships for Webutuck graduates, a program she helped to administer until her death and which continues to the present.

To access a video of Downey’s extensive discussion of Simmons, write to eddowney12@gmail.com.