KERMIT’S OBITUARY

Kermit Mixon Simmons, age 90, of Winnfield, died Thursday, May 21, 2026, at Winn Parish Medical Center. Visitation was held at Southern Funeral Home Tuesday, May 26, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held at Southern Funeral Home, Wednesday, May 27, at 11:00 a.m., with Dr. Allen Jackson officiating. Interment will follow at Siloam Cemetery in Gansville.

Kermit, or “Mickey” as he was known, was born October 7, 1935, at the Fittz-Faith Clinic in Winnfield to Kermit Carson Simmons and Mamie Rose Mixon Simmons, both members of pioneering Winn Parish families. He was nicknamed Mickey after his father’s favorite baseball player Mickey Cochran. Cochran managed the Detroit Tigers to the 1935 World Series, with the clinching game of the series coinciding with Mickey’s birthdate.

Mickey’s parents taught in the Winn Parish school system and were teaching at Calvin at the time of his birth. Mickey’s first years were spent in Calvin in the small apartment attached to the school. Later the family moved to a house near the Calvin store-the house had one light bulb.

Mickey entered school in first grade at Gaar’s Mill and later attended Calvin and then Dodson through graduation in 1953. While in school, he was very active in sports, choir, Boy Scouts, 4-H, FFA, and was selected to attend Boys’ State.

He played basketball throughout high school. In 1952 and 1953, the Dodson Panthers were parish champions, and Mickey was the team captain in 1953, his senior year. He broke the little finger of his left hand while playing basketball, and the finger remained crooked for his life.

After high school, Mickey attended Louisiana Tech, graduating in three years. During his time at Tech, Mickey was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. After completing his Bachelor of Arts in history from Louisiana Tech, Mickey attended law school at LSU, where he was invited to be a member of Louisiana State University Law Review.

Soon after completing law school, Mickey entered the National Guard. Upon returning from basic training, Mickey and Nina Sue Underwood Simmons were married January 30, 1960, at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro. The couple met while both were in school at Dodson. They courted throughout high school, while studying at Louisiana Tech, and through Mickey’s tenure at LSU law school in Baton Rouge. They were married for sixty-four years, until Nina’s death in 2024, and Mickey never forgot the first time they met, even remembering the exact clothes she was wearing at the time.

He was admitted to the bar in Louisiana in 1959 and practiced law until a week before his death. His practice areas of law included general practice, civil practice, corporate law, probate, and banking. His professional resume includes:

Member of Phi Delta Phi law fraternity.

Law Clerk to Judge J.E. Bolen, Louisiana 2nd Circuit Court of Appeal in Shreveport from 1960 to 1962.

Assistant District Attorney for the 8th Judicial District from 1965 to 1988.

Chairman of the 8th Judicial District’s Indigent Defender Board from 1992 to 1995.

Counsel for Winn Parish School Board 1965 to 1989.

Counsel for Winn Parish Police Jury 1965 to 1989.

Counsel for Bank of Winnfield since 1963.

Member of the Winn Parish Library Board of Trustees from 1969 to 1996.

Counsel for the City of Winnfield from 1973 to 1979 and 1985 to 1990.

Member of Louisiana Supreme Court Legal Services Task Force from 1996 to 1997.

Fellow of the Louisiana Bar Foundation.

Paul Harris Fellow Rotary International.

Member of Winn Parish Bar Association (President, 1972 to 1973, 1984 to 1988, and 1990 to 2000).

Member of Louisiana State Bar Association, (Chairman 1984 to 1985; Special Committee on Malpractice Insurance; Member of the House of Delegates 1988 to 1996; and Probation Monitor).

Habitat for Humanity Winn Secretary 1999 to 2001.

Mickey was a man of many passions. Throughout his long and full life he dabbled in photography, serving as a sideline photographer for both the Winnfield and LSU Tigers. Mickey loved LSU athletics and held football season tickets for over fifty years. One Sunday in 2025, he consented to being taken to the emergency room for much needed care but would only go after the LSU Baseball Team won the final game of the College World Series that afternoon. He was an avid fisherman and duck hunter, pursuing both all over the state of Louisiana and beyond. Mickey loved dogs and spent many hours training and working with his retrievers. His current Labrador, Blue, misses him very much. Mickey was a life-long learner of all subjects but was an expert on Winn Parish history and genealogies. A conversation with Mickey almost always included at least one story from the annals of Winn Parish.

He was preceded in death by his parents, by his brother Harry D. Simmons, and by his wife, Nina Sue Underwood Simmons. His survivors include his children: Kermit Mixon “Mike” Simmons, Jr. of Winnfield, Susan Mador (Robert) of Oak Harbor, Washington, Alfred Simmons (Lesley) of Winnfield; grandchildren Megan Geter (Jay) of Madison, Mississippi, Daniel Simmons of Winnfield, David Simmons of Baton Rouge, Micah Simmons of Winnfield, and great-granddaughter Olivia Geter of Madison, Mississippi. His sister-in-law Grace Simmons of Shreveport and brother-in-law Philip Underwood (Jerri Lynn) of Ruston also survive him, as do nieces, nephews and numerous cousins. College classmates Robert Dawkins of Ruston, Charles Salley of Shreveport, and Skip Bell of Birmingham, Alabama, grieve the loss of Mickey. Brittany Johnson, a devoted friend and source of family support, also survives him.

Pallbearers will be Daniel Simmons, David Simmons, Micah Simmons, Robert Mador, Jay Geter, Clay Underwood, and Mason Garfield.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the Winn Parish Dugdemona High-Twelve Scholarship Fund or a favorite charity.

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