Jane Griffin Simms

Jane Griffin Simms of Atlanta, widow of Arthur Benjamin Simms, III, passed away on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. Mrs. Simms was actively involved throughout her life with civic, charitable, and church activities. She was a member of the Atlanta Junior League, Atlanta Speech School Guild, Atlanta Historical Society, Atlanta Symphony Guild, Board of Rabun Gap Nacoochee Guild, and Board of Tallulah Falls Young Matrons Circle. She also served as Treasurer of the Henrietta Egleston Hospital Auxiliary, Chaplain, and Regent of Fort Peachtree Chapter, NSDAR, Secretary of the Fulton County Federation of Garden Clubs, President of the Wayside Garden Club and of the Paine Forest Garden Club. She was a past member of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta and served as Secretary and Literature Chairman of Women of the Church. At the time of her death, she was a member of Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

Born on April 18, 1928, in LaGrange, Georgia, Jane Laurice Griffin Simms was the daughter of Walter Ewing Griffin, a native of Augusta, Georgia, and Selma Shadburn Griffin, a native of Buford, Georgia. Mrs. Simms attended Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina and earned her BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a member of Pi Beta Phi Sorority.

Following graduation, she was employed as secretary to Emory University’s Director of Admissions and later as a psychometrist for Sears Roebuck and Company and Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, where she met Mr. Simms. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, avid bridge player, and extensive traveler. In addition to the United States, she and Mr. Simms particularly enjoyed travel abroad, often taking along their children.

Survivors include: her son and daughter-in-law, Arthur Benjamin Simms, IV and Vicki Lois Wilson Simms of Tiger, Georgia; her daughter and son-in-law, Jane Griffin Simms Hamner, M.D. and Patrick Foster Hamner of Dallas, Texas; her daughter and son-in -law, Anne Woodruff Simms Goodgame and Carl Edward Goodgame, of Atlanta; four grandsons: Arthur Benjamin Simms V (Addie), John Patrick Hamner, David Simms Hamner (Georgia Mae), and Benjamin Foster Hamner; four granddaughters: Vicki Wilson Simms Rhodes, Evelyn Amanda Simms Leary, Kimberly Jane Simms Goodson (Matthew), and Anne Elizabeth Goodgame, 10 great-grandchildren and many cherished and attentive nieces, nephews,

great-nieces and great-nephews. She was predeceased by her sister, Betty Griffin Tanner of Birmingham, Ala. and brother, Thomas L. Griffin, M.D. of Wilson, N.C.

A Memorial Service will be held on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at 2pm in Kellett Chapel at Peachtree Presbyterian Church , Atlanta, Ga., with reception to follow.