When one thinks of a small town historian, images of an elderly woman in a rocker, slowly manipulating knitting needles, talking about the good ole days comes to mind.
That might be the case somewhere, but not in Argyle.
Lynn Sheffield Simmons is a hard-working, hearty-laughing gal who writes stories about animals who solve problems, entertain readers, and jump to life from the pages of her books. In the time it takes me to write this story, she’ll have already written a new book and done community work.
Ms. Simmons, who received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and master’s in special education from Denton’s Texas Woman’s University, arrived in Argyle in 1971. “I think the population was all of about 620 or so, back then,” she laughs. She immediately immersed herself in the community, joining the Argyle Volunteer Fire Department’s women’s auxiliary, then headed up by Yvonne Jenkins, who later served as mayor.
“I wouldn’t have been of much use fighting fires. I served as publicity chairman.” If you meet Ms. Simmons, you’ll walk away thinking that she could probably squelch fires, handle publicity, and ride a unicycle, well, all at the same time.
“We did all kinds of things to raise funds for the fire department. We knitted; we baked pies and sold slices to the Friday night domino players; we held barbecues; we had talent nights and crowned Miss Flame and Little Miss Flame; we had turkey shoots and raffles. But the funny thing is, the biggest fundraiser we had for the fire department was from the sale of fireworks!”
“Now, we fund the fire department, as well as several other non-profits serving Argyle, Copper Canyon, Lantana, and Bartonville through the Communities Civic League, which I started in 1998. In 2005, we opened the Argyle Senior’s Activity Center. I found we had 80-90+ year olds driving to Denton’s senior center, just to have communication. The Baptist church lets us have fellowship call on Wednesdays and Fridays. We have a physical trainer, so we share lunch, exercise, and play games twice a week. Our local Edward Jones office calls bingo and supplies prizes every other week.”
Besides being the author of many of her own books, Ms. Simmons has helped others to learn the joys of reading. She taught students in North Richland Hills’ Alliene Mullendore Elementary School and at the city’s junior high (now middle) school. Applying her skills as a longtime writer for the Denton Record Chronicle, she used newspapers to open the minds and visions of students, including the learning disabled.
“I used the comics, the sports pages, even the lunch menus! I’d get my kids to make up adjectives to go with the food items – such as adding creamy to mashed potatoes, but never anything negative,” she asides. “I’d get learning-challenged children to find ads in the papers and do math with the pricing. With the Fort Worth Star Telegram, we’d use the weather reports. One day, a little 3rd grade boy came up to me and said, ‘Miss Sheffield, you know what the most beautiful word is? Precipitation!’
“I had one 2nd grade boy look at the letters on the cards above the blackboard, then find and circle those letters in the newspaper. After several days of moving through the alphabet, he exclaimed, ‘This newspaper doesn’t just have letters of the alphabet – it has words in it, too!’
“While teaching 9th graders, I instructed them to not get up or speak without first raising their hands, but I told them that they were allowed to breathe…until I tell them to stop. The boys all wanted to hear my stories about Sugarlump the cow and Bo the black Labrador retriever,” (from her real life at home, which begat her books).
Ms. Simmons’ accounts of these characters, as well as Jack Crow, all stem from real animals she’s had and befriended. Many class trips have come to her home to visit them as well. “Sugarlump always played up to the kids and loved the attention.”
“Crows are very smart. Jack would come if I’d call him. I got calls from neighbors about Jack. He kept a sick girl entertained. One time, I started giving him pieces of ice. Jack would take them and hide them under leaves, only to come back and look for them, but of course, they’d melted, perplexing him.”
If I forgot to mention Lynn’s history of Argyle book, “The Place is Argyle, Historical Facts and Recollections” it’s because she keeps everything moving forward, with no signs of slowing down. But, it is a beautiful book, filled with tales and anecdotes dating back beyond the beginning of the last century.
“All I had to do was use published articles from the history of Argyle,” the author says, humbly. Longtime residents such as Mary George Sullivan, Marcella Stuart Henderson, Yvonne Jenkins, and many others bring the stories to life. We learn about everything from the life and death of the infamous bank, train, and stage coach robber, Sam Bass, to the growing up of the town. In fact, while it parallels much of small town America over the past 100+ years, it also opens our eyes to what life was truly like for the citizens who made Argyle.
Lynn, who lives with her husband Larry, a retired dentist, in a home that Lynn designed, is more than just a writer of books. She weaves tales that educate and entertain, and always gives back more to the community than she could ever take from it. We don’t have enough space in this paper to say it all. You owe it to yourself and your family to read her Argyle history book, as well as her animal stories.
For more information, look to her website, at www.argylebooks.com, and also to the site for the North Texas Book Festival, at www.ntbf.org to learn more about such locally notable authors as Elmer Kelton and David Titus “the stringman.”
This article was written by John LaVine and published in the December 2008 issue of The Cross Timbers Gazette.
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