Daryl Simmons
March 21, 1945 - June 26, 2018
Daryl Simmons, 73, of Wheaton, Minnesota, died at 9:25 a.m. June 26, 2018, surrounded by family and friends.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 30, 2018, at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Wheaton, Minnesota, with Pastor Tim Shekleton officiating. Organist will be Cheryl Shekleton, with special music by Avah Sykora.
Visitation will be held one hour prior to service time at the church.
Daryl was born March 21, 1945, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to Laura Fairfowl and Harold Simmons. He attended Benson Tech High School and then joined the Army in 1962 to become part of the 82nd Airborne Division. Daryl was united in marriage to Tori Simmons on Nov. 7, 1964, at The Chapel of Oaks Park in Portland, Oregon. Together, they had three children: Darren, Dawn and Holly.
Daryl worked in the oil industry for 26 years and retired from Alyeska Pipeline at 58. At 70, Daryl's passion for helping people drove him to get certified as an EMT in three states (North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota). He worked for Sanford Ambulance Service until his death.
Daryl enjoyed rebuilding cars; tinkering with computers; reading and watching everything science fiction; doting on his wife; and spending time with family and friends. Daryl was known for his ability to fix anything and lived and taught his favorite motto: "You can do anything that you set your mind to."
Daryl is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Tori Simmons, of Wheaton; son, Darren Simmons, of Wheaton; daughters, Dawn (Richard) Bennett, of Fairbanks, and Holly (Shane) Garrett, of McKinney, Texas; brothers, David (Liz) Simmons, of West Linn, Oregon, and Donald Simmons, of Grand Saline, Texas; in-laws, Bill and Patricia Chase, of Wheaton; grandchildren, Kathleen, Matt, Regan, Hallie, Ashley, Jesse and Brylee; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Daryl was preceded in death by his parents; and father-in-law, Bill Chase, of Wheaton.
To sign the online guestbook, watch the video tribute or service recording visit www.bainbridge funeralhome.com.
Published in Daily News-Miner on June 29, 2018
Baribridge Funeral Home, Wheaton, MN
Bill Howitt
I always enjoyed working with Daryl. He was sincere in his desire to do a good job at whatever he did. When his pump station was scheduled for shutdown and decommissioning in the mid-90's, he didn't like it, but he did an excellent job of preparing the pump station and helping to prepare his people for dealing with the huge change. Rest in peace Daryl.
J Chris Alexander
Daryl was a great guy and a true professional. Prayers for comfort for his family.
Larry Shelton
Daryl and I worked together as maintenance techs at Pump 4. There were few people with whom I enjoyed working side-by-side as much as Daryl. He was a hard-working problem solver with a great sense of humor. He did have high expectations of his co-workers, and did not hesitate to express them, but did so with humor, and his expectations for himself were even higher. On our off-weeks, most of us went fishing or camping or just rested. Daryl went to work on a commercial building or his wife’s shop or some other ambitious project. I remember that he wanted to transfer to Pump 8 to be home at night, but he was apparently too valuable to let him go. Then someone woke up and realized he was the only weekly passenger on the King Air from Fairbanks to Galbraith, and Daryl and the King Air were gone. Then we found they were right — He was too valuable to let get away.
Dan Hisey
I was saddened to hear of Daryl's passing. I always thoroughly enjoyed working with Daryl. He kept me out of trouble more than once. His strong work ethic and "get it done" attitude always impressed me. I remember his tongue-in-cheek good humor and wit. He will be missed. Rest in Peace my friend.
Joel Westerlund
Another good guy is gone and I'am sad to say good bye. We had a lot of fun working together at pump eight and six. He played a great game of trying to out do the other guy and he was good at it.He was an excellent mechanic and a good self taught instrument tech. who took care of his workers. He was a tough boss on slackers and some disliked him for it and even that amused him. One of his lines that caused a stir was " You can train a monkey to be an operator ", then the bananas started coming to the station. I will miss him very much, Tori, I'm so sorry to hear about Daryl, Take care.Steve Jordan
I worked with Daryl at pumpstation 8. Back when our coveralls were green and he had fun with the operators. He was dependable for his work ethic and humor. Daryl had the ability to lighten tense situations with that mischievous smile yet the voice of reason. He had an uncanny ability to slip in the just the right word at the right time. Sometimes I think he could play both sides of a disagreement and nobody would notice. I respected him and I'm sorry for his departure.