Christine Simmons Walker, a resident of Chattanooga, met the Lord peacefully on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, in her home. She was 63 years old.
She was born to Joel Simmons, Sr., and Luecindy Broadway Simmons, on Dec. 28, 1953, in Rayville, La. She was the middle child of eight children. Christine’s family later moved to Monroe, La., where she attended and graduated from Wossman High School in 1971.
In 1975, Christine earned a bachelor’s degree from Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana Monroe) and began her teaching career in St. Joseph, La. In 1978 she married her devoted husband, Ernest L. Walker, III, and they moved to Chattanooga in 1979. From that union, their loving daughter, DeAnna Walker was born in 1991.
Christine continued her teaching career for the next 35 years with the Hamilton County School System. Over the years she taught many students, which included friends and family being some of her former students. Through teaching she made significant impacts in her students’ lives. She was very passionate in her teachings, and she made her students enjoy learning. In her free time she loved to take pictures and gardening.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her younger sister, Catherine “Kitty” Evans.
She leaves to cherish her memory her devoted husband of 38 years, Ernest “Nick” Walker; daughter, DeAnna Walker; her sisters, Luella Jacobs, Mary Simmons-Taylor, Lottie Dickson, Shirley Simmons; her brothers, Bobby Simmons (Evelda) and Joel Simmons, Jr. (Donesa); sisters-in-law, Bertha Alford (Frank) and Linda Armstrong (Ernest); brothers-in-law, Glen Walker (Beverly), Rickey Walker (Verna), Tim Walker (Warnetta), and Ron Walker; a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, and friends.
There will be a family hour at John P. Franklin Funeral Home, 1101 Dodds Avenue, Chattanooga, Tn. 37421, at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30, followed by a memorial service at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration: https://www.theaftd.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/electronically or at AFTD, Radnor Station Building 2, Suite 320, 290 King of Prussia Road, Radnor, PA 19087.