In Memoriam: John Sims

Remembering John Sims ’90 (1968-2022)

By Mary Evans ’20

I have been blessed in many ways at Antioch. I received an amazing Liberal Arts degree that has taken me places I never thought I would be. I have met some amazing Alumni and consider many of them my family.

I came back as staff and one of my responsibilities is to add the obituaries to the website. In a way it is a blessing and it is also sorrowful. I get to read about all the places these Alumni went and how their life was like. All the traveling and social justice activism is admirable; and the one connection to all these obituaries is they are Antioch College.

The day John’s obituary notice came through my email, I thought the world was playing a cruel joke and that it was a mistake.

I first met John during Reunion 2019 and I have leaned on him for guidance ever since.

I came across John Sims speaking at a commencement and had the honor to work with him during Reunion 2021 where he received the Walter Anderson Award. I told him about how I came to Antioch and why Antioch was the best thing to ever happen to me. Antioch College is not for everyone.

John and I shared some of the same thoughts about this place. This place is for folks that want to do their own thing and know exactly what that thing is. John and I had a lot more in common than I thought.

We both were arrested, we both came to Antioch and took the resources given to us and made something out of ourselves with it. We are both black, activists, and artists.

After Reunion 2021 we kept in contact through FB messenger and I received some of the best advice I could ever receive each time we spoke.

The occasional Hey How are you is what I often search for because it still doesn’t seem real.

I often go through articles where he spoke with such conviction against police brutality and racial conflicts.

My favorite article is “Dear Police: We can’t trust you until you change”.

Just because John is physically not here does not mean that he does not live on. His work is the most impeccable form of policy reform by an artist that I have ever seen. I am glad to have known him.