Obituary

Bessie Naomi Hibner Simms, loving mother, grandmother and great grandmother went home to be with the Lord on September 27, 2009 after a long illness.  Funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Thursday, October 1, 2009 at Beard Mortuary, Huntington, with Dr. Manfred Langer officiating.  Burial will follow in blue Sulphur Cemetery, Ona, WV.  She was born January 11, 1920 in Ona, WV, a daughter of the late Charles F. and Minnie Rose Davis Hibner.  She was also preceded in death by her husband, James P. Simms; six brothers and three sisters.  She was a resident of Huntington since 1958 and a long time member and past Deaconess of Highlawn Baptist Church since 1958.  She was a graduate of Milton High School in 1937.  She is survived by three children, Sharon Adkins and her husband, Carl of Prichard, WV, James Simms and his wife, Linda of Clarksburg, WV and Preston Simms and his wife, Lynn of Fredericksburg, VA; seven grandchildren, Teressa Stanley, Michael Adkins, Rebecca Mitchell, Marcelle Kincaid, James W. Simms, Kathleen Freeman and Preston W. Simms; two brothers, Calvin Hibner of Barboursville, WV and William Hibner of Proctorville, OH and 13 great grandchildren.  Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at Beard Mortuary, Huntington.