Isadora Simms, loving known as Ms. Dora, was born on July 3, 1924 in Stapleton, Georgia to Olin and Myra Brown.  She received her early education in Jefferson County and completed the 5th grade.  When she decided that she was old enough, she left the South for a better life.  She came to New York at the age of 19 and worked as a waitress at Chock Full O' Nuts.  Her passion and love for sewing lead her to an exciting job in a dress factory making button holes and sewing clothes.  Ms. Dora lived in a rooming house with her best friend Rosa Lee Jacobs in Harlem.  Her smile, sparkling gold tooth, and her Coca Cola bottled shape attracted a man named Charles Edward Simms, who she married and together raised 7 beautiful children in the MLK Towers Housing Projects.  While living there, they all met some wonderful families and friends in the building and became aquainted with many community members.  she continued sewing clothes for herself and her family and loved caring for them.  They lived as a close knit family who struggled through hard times, but never borrowed any money from anyone.  With her strong faith in God, she also believed in the tradition of family and valued keeping family first.  Ms. Dora taught Sunday school at an AME Church in Harlem and used to gather as many children as she could who lived in building # 41 to take them to church every Sunday.  Charles was later called home, and all but one left the nest.  She continued living in the building with her youngest daughter Audrey and her two grandchildren, Terrell and Tyler.  Although she loved them dearly, she felt the need to venture out on her own in her elder years.  She was known as the woman who copied the TV series, the Jefferson's and moved out of the PJ's to live in a deluxe apartment in the sky with an East River view that she could see from each of her big windows.  Some of her activities included making pillows, crocheting, playing bingo, pulling slot machines at the casinos, watching and listening to Joel Olsteen, Jeopardy, and the Wheel of Fortune.  she was famous for her sweet potato pies, coconut cakes, and turnip and collard greens.  Ms. Dora was a warm person with a delightful and loving heart.  She was well received and was a woman who had a strong and positive sense of who she was.  She loved her plants and flowers and was blessed to be able to smell the roses while she was alive.  Many medical profesionals who treated her always stated that she never looked her age, often asking her about her secrets to looking young.  Towards the end of life, Ms. Dora would lovingly say to her family that when it was her time to go, it was just her time to go.  Not to worry about her because she was going to be alright.

Isadora Simms now joins all those she loved who have gone before her.  Her parents, 11 brothers and sisters, her third son Randy, one of her best friends Rosa Lee, and has been buried alongside her husband at Calveton National Veteran Cemetery.  She leaves behind her last surviving sister, Virginia Brown, her 6 children, Larry, Charles, Betty, David, Renee and Audrey, 2 son in-laws, 3 Goddaughters, Dorothy, Lynda and Deosa, 16 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, 5 great-great grandchildren. and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and neighbors.

This little light of ours dimmed peacefully on the afternoon of September 16, 2015, but her spirit will always shine bright like a diamond in our hearts.  She will always be our little firecracker who exploded with lots of love and joy.  We love and miss you Grandma! You will forever live on in our hearts.

Lovingly Summited by the Simms Family.