Lee Simmons Receives Senior Inspiration Award
03/31/09
A veteran who served U.S. presidents from John F. Kennedy to Gerald R. Ford aboard Air Force One is the recipient of this year’s Senior Inspiration Award for Palm Desert.
Lee Simmons was born April 18, 1931, in Evergreen, Alabama. In his youth, he moved north to Akron, Ohio, where he worked for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company as well as a busboy and waiter at the Mayflower Hotel. In 1953, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where his experience in the hospitality industry served him well. After nearly a decade of training and promotions, Simmons was assigned to work as a flight attendant on Air Force One, the first African American to serve as a member of the presidential aircrafts’ official crew. In this capacity, he would wait on presidents Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.
In 1968, he was reassigned to Frankfurt, Germany, where he served as chief air steward to the Air Force’s Commanding Chief of Europe. He was reassigned to Air Force One two years later, where he assumed the job of chief steward at the request of then President Richard Nixon, who wanted Simmons to accompany him and first lady Pat Nixon on their travels around the world.
After Nixon’s resignation, Simmons continued to serve President Ford on Air Force One. When Ford left office in 1977, Simmons was chosen to work on the transition team that established the former first family in their new Coachella Valley home. Ford asked Simmons, now a master sergeant, if he would consider retiring from the military to join his personal staff. The 24-year Air Force veteran agreed. Simmons continued working in that capacity until Ford’s death in 2006. Simmons and wife Jeannette were part of the formal cortege that traveled from the Coachella Valley to Washington, D.C., aboard an Air Force One jet for the former president’s State Funeral.
Simmons continues to work part-time for Betty Ford. He remains active in the community, serving on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of the Coachella Valley since 1992, where he held two terms as president and vice president. He is also a longtime volunteer with the Indian Wells Tennis Foundation and is the president of the Optimist Club of Palm Desert. In 2001, Simmons was appointed to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Commission on Recruiting, Retention, and Diversity.
For his service in the military, Simmons received many awards including the Presidential Service Badge, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Presidential Service Certificate, and the Meritorious Service Medal.
He has been married to Jeannette since 1964. They have three children and seven grandchildren.
Simmons will be honored at a special Senior Inspiration Awards luncheon on Thursday, April 16, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Westin Mission Hills Resort in Rancho Mirage. Tickets are $25. The annual luncheon recognizes active senior citizens from the Coachella Valley’s nine cities who demonstrate volunteerism and community engagement. For more information, please call 863-2556.
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