Ada Virginia Simmons

Ada Virginia Simmons, a lifelong resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana passed peacefully on Sunday, June 29, 2025, at 5:29 AM at the exceptional age of 105. How do you summarize 105 years all into a little eulogy? It’s impossible to touch on all the amazing things Virginia experienced in over a century.

Virginia was born May 17, 1920, the eldest daughter of the late Norman Eric Gruber and Bessie Irene Gruber (née Linel.) She experienced the Great Depression, flying for the first time to Louisville and attending the Kentucky Derby in 1940 at 19 years old are just a few things.

She started her life in Fort Wayne and resided there for the entirety of her life. She met her husband, Raymond, while working as a phone operator at Tokheim, which at that time was the world’s largest gasoline pump manufacturer. Raymond and Virginia bred, raised, and showed a variety of dog breeds including Cocker Spaniels, Wheaten Terriers, and most prominently Boxers. Ray and Virginia’s prized Boxer ‘Simmons Crossfire,’ won the biggest boxer specialty in Indianapolis, Indiana while in their Boxer showing prime.

Not only were dogs an important aspect in Virginia’s life, but American Saddlebred horses also became a integral part of the Simmons family starting with the mare Vanity Herself that Ray and Virginia acquired in the 1960’s around the time they started building their family home on Amber Road. “Susie” drove the Simmons family into the American Saddlebred industry permanently. Ray and Virginia’s sons, Scott and Jeff, rode and showed Susie as well as her sole offspring, a colt Vanity’s Only.

If you knew Virginia in any form, you likely knew of her affinity for baking and cooking. With her tin of recipes, and various other ways of stashing saved recipes, she always had a variety of classic treats she could whip up. Her specialty, however, was her angel-food cake, of which has yet to be replicated by anyone lucky enough to possess the infamous recipe.

Virginia’s long legacy of recipes, rhymes, epigrams, love of horses and dogs will be cherished tremendously by her sister, Norma Jean Stauffer of Fort Lauderdale, FL; her sons, Gregory Scott Simmons of Fort Wayne, and Jeffery Alan Simmons of Burlington, KY; son-In-law, Michael Schmid, and granddaughter, Cydni Simmons-Meintjes (Francois Meintjes.) and other family members and friends who knew her.

She was also preceded in death by her husband, Raymond Joseph Simmons.

Virginia lived a long and remarkable life and will be greatly missed.

Ada will be laid to rest in Greenlawn Memorial Park, Fort Wayne, IN.