November 28, 2022, 95, Goldsboro –

Edna Earl Simmons, (aka “Brown Sugar”) of Goldsboro, North Carolina passed away Monday, November 28, 2022, at Kitty Askins Hospice Center in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday, December 3, 2022, at 11 a.m. at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, 1000 North Jefferson Avenue, Goldsboro, North Carolina.  The family will receive friends prior to the service from 10 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. at the church.

Ms. Simmons was born on November 18, 1927, and lived her entire life in Goldsboro. She was a member of the Dillard High School Class of 1945. Ms. Simmons was a very active member of St. Mary Roman Catholic Church where she was a member of the 10 a.m. Sunday Choir, the Sunshine Committee of St. Mary Ladies Guild, a member of the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, and a food server at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Soup Kitchen in past years.  She taught CCD classes for preschool at Sacred Heart Mission Church and St. Mary Catholic Church for more than forty years.  She worked at WAGES in Outreach and taught Head Start classes. Following her retirement from the Wayne County Public Schools in 1993, she joined the Goldsboro Family Y and enjoyed making new friends.  

Ms. Simmons is survived by her children, Janice M. Simmons and Dean C. Simmons of Goldsboro; six grandchildren, Yolanda Simmons of Lumberton, New Jersey, Shelly (Chris) Herring of Mt. Holly, New Jersey; Franklin J. Simmons, Jr. of St. Cloud, Florida, Christian L. Brown and Deonte Mitchell of Dallas, Texas, and Dean C. Simmons, Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia; great-grandchildren, Ashley Webber (Reginald) of Columbia, South Carolina and Kalei Herring of Mt. Holly, New Jersey; great-great-grandchildren,  Jackson Carter Webber and Romeo Webber of Columbia, South Carolina.

She is preceded in death by her son, Franklin J. Simmons Sr.

Services are entrusted to the care of Howell Funeral Home & Crematory in Goldsboro.