Patricia Joyce Simmons

December 5th, 1942 - August 13, 2026

Pat was born on the Gosnell Airbase in Blythville Arkansas during WWII. The second child and oldest daughter of seven children of Jerry and Jane Harrington. At age 12 the family packed up and headed out west to Arizona.

The family moved around a lot, so many schools were attended…with Pat eventually attending Phoenix Union High School in the 1950s.

Relationships come and go…and Pat had several suitors as a lovely young woman, even married for a while in the early 1960s. The important things that happened to Pat in the 60s was that she had 2 of her 3 daughters. Penny in 1963, Lisa in 1967.

Surprise!!!…another relationship in the 1970s…brought another daughter Jennifer in 1973…but this 1 brought a father that just seemed to have kinda stuck…and even though both of them didn't really need the “piece of paper” to define their relationship, the government did…Pat went ahead and finally Married Richard “Bud” Simmons on March 20th, 1986. She was a widow 17 days later.

Throughout her life Pat was a HARD worker. She held several jobs…most often working as a phone operator answering calls, even retiring after 30 years of working at Discount Cab. Her favorite job however, had been when she drove and owned her own Ice Cream Truck…Popsicle Patty.

Pat ALWAYS prided herself on being able to have “Penny Candy/Bubblegum” to offer on her truck…to the little kids who,like her as a child, didn't have money to get anything when the big truck was stopped by all the other kids in the neighborhood. Sometimes 1 penny…or a button/shiny rock…bought a whole handful of bubblegum.

Pat was truly the walking embodiment of “giving the shirt off her back”. If she saw that a coworker didn't have lunch…she shared hers. She would often arrive early for her shifts, so she could walk around and share the package of Oreos or Potato Chips that “she made it herself” (as she couldn't cook nor bake). If she knew that someone didn't have family at the holidays…YES THEY DID. Those poor souls would be subjected to hilarious Thanksgivings where she didn't put the turkey in the oven until all of her pies were cooked…and so that Turkey wasn't going to be cooked until well after 11pm. But those adopted family members would spend years being able to joke hollering down a hallway with Jennifer the phrase that Pat was repeatedly saying all that day :

Adopted Family member: “I GOT CHIPS!!!”

Jennifer's response: “And I GOT PIE!!!!!!”

Years later, that particular gentleman would tell Jennifer…that even though we didn't eat that day until we all went to Jack in the Box, it was the BEST Thanksgiving he'd ever had…because he felt loved and a part of the family.

Pat made everyone feel welcomed and loved…because that was her essence: Love.

Pat is preceded in death by her husband Richard “Bud” Simmons, Daughter Penny Avery, and Granddaughter Kylie Mullins-McCullough.

Pat is survived by daughters Lisa Mullins-Phillips and Jennifer Simmons-Loresto.

Grandchildren : Ashley Avery, Alex Avery, and Daniel Phillips. Great grandsons: Michaelangelo, Sasuke, and Alexzander Avery.

Sisters: Glenda, Sherry, and Tina. Brothers: Jerry (Dick), John, and Gary.

Due to the extreme heat, Pat chose to direct that if she passed away during the summer in Arizona…Services will be held in the Spring.

Pat will be buried next to her husband at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery in Phoenix.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Arizona Humane Society.