Dan Jerrold Simkins

Panaca, Nevada Dan Jerrold Simkins, 85, was born to Waldo James Simkins and Laura Mae “Peggy” Simkins in the Cedar City Utah hospital on November 5, 1938. He was the only one of his 5 brothers and sisters who was born in a hospital. He passed away December 21, 2023, in St. George, Utah. He attended the one room school house in Barclay for 4 years, where the family had a ranch. In the winter months the family would move to St. George for the kids to attend school and the mild climate for calving cows. They spent the summers at Barclay tending their cow herd and putting up meadow grass hay. He left Dixie High School in his 11th grade and went to the Ranch at Barclay to live with his Dad and brothers. Grandpa Waldo told him, “well you are not going to sit around here, you have to go to work”. So Dan went to work on the Union Pacific Railroad section crew maintaining the mainline that goes right through the center of Barclay. He later worked in the rail yard in downtown Las Vegas, before joining the U S. Navy. Dan had spent time in the Utah National Guard while living in St George. He was assigned to the Pacific Fleet on the west coast and made several Pacific Ocean crossings and visited Hawaii, Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, and the Aleutian Islands in western Alaska. He earned his GED while in the Navy where his job was quartermaster on the bridge. Dan met Connie Simkins in the Silver Café in Pioche in 1963. They were married in Las Vegas, Nevada, at Uncle Lewie and Aunt Janet Rollins’ home on November 25, 1964. He worked a variety of jobs, including railroad, Teamster out of Las Vegas, Nevada Test Site, Soil Conservation building cement ditches, Caselton Mine shop and crusher and hauling ore out of Pan American Mine, and finally spent the summer at Punkin Center northwest of Phoenix just under the Mogollon Rim hauling tungsten ore. He spent about 25 years driving long haul for Parke Cox of St. George, hauling vegetables and fruit east and swinging pigs back to Los Angeles, with the last 11 years on a dream run for Parke from St George loaded with sleeping bags and tents to the northwest and a return load of large rolls of paper for Moore Business Forms in St George. This allowed him to be home in the middle of the week and weekends too. He was proud of the fact that he drove one of Parke’s new trucks for nearly a million miles on the sleeping bag run without a major repair to engine, transmissions, or rear ends. It was a 425 Cat with a 5 and 4, of course. The family was delighted when he took a job for Lincoln County Road Department as blade operator and worked there for another 25 years, which allowed him to be home every night. When he got to Social Security age, he doubled up on pickup payments and then used those funds to take flying lessons out of Cedar City Utah. In a little over 7 years of flying, he put together 700 hours flying in small planes. Dan served on the Lincoln County Airport Authority for several years and was faithful in watching activities at the Panaca airport. Dan and Connie are the parents of daughter Grace Maria “Gracie” Simkins Thompson and son Randy Jerrold Simkins. Dan enjoyed following their civic and sports activities, 4-H, basketball, volleyball, track, baseball, and recently the Dixie State Women’s Softball team. Dan was active in different shooting sports especially silhouettes and practical shooting and had a great love for guns of all types. He was a Life Member of the NRA and Front Sight at Pahrump. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, December 28, 2023, at noon Pacific Daylight Time in Panaca at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds exhibit building, located east of the town of Panaca at 1631 State Route 319. Dan is survived by his wife Connie of Panaca, son Randy (Shar) of St George, and daughter Gracie (David) of Hurricane, Utah, and nieces and nephews the children of his two sisters Hazel and Muriel, and three brothers K and Keith and Frank. Grandchildren Cheyenne (Carl) Guiterrez of Colorado Springs, Colorado; Russ Thompson of Hawaii; Jarett Thomas, Shane Simkins, Jaselle Mills, Jaxon Mills of St. George; Jillian Thomas of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Summer Simkins of Provo, Utah; and great grandchildren Christian and Carlie Gutierrez of Colorado Springs. He is predeceased by all five of his siblings: K (Miriam) of Las Vegas, Keith (Jo) of Decatur Texas, Frank (Chloe) of Panaca, Hazel Davis of Henderson, and Muriel Martin of Panaca. The Dan Simkins Family asks in lieu of flowers, consider a donation to Alzheimer Research at: https:www.alz.org They recognize and appreciate the care given to Dan at Memory Care Southgate St George and the thoughtful and specialized attention provided by Serenity Funeral Home St George. Family and Friends are encouraged to share condolences and stories about their time spent with Dan at the Serenity website at: https://www.serenitystg.com.

Dan Jerrold Simkins

November 5, 1938 - December 21, 2023