PEOPLE
‘I bleed green blood’
Grandmother heads up three generations of Girl Scouts By Donna Williams Lewis When Deanna Simmons first started selling Girl Scout cookies at the age of 7, they cost about 45 cents a box, there were only three kinds of cookies, and her troop sold them from a red wagon on Peachtree Street. Her mother was co-leader of her Brookhaven troop and Simmons loved the troop’s trips to Camp Timber Ridge in Mableton and to other outdoor activities. She was a Girl Scout all the way through high school and earned the scouts’ Curved Bar Award, the precursor to today’s Gold Award, which is comparable to the Eagle Scout rank for Boy Scouts. Today, the Lawrenceville resident is gearing up for cookie sale season as co-leader of a granddaughter’s troop in Buford and as a legend in the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, now celebrating its 100th anniversary. Simmons, 73, was recently recognized for her many years of service to the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta with the organization’s Helen Foster Pin, an honor bestowed upon volunteers who have served multiple geographic areas in more than one role. Inspired by her mother’s love of Girl Scouts, “I bleed green blood,” Simmons says. It must be in her DNA. Scouting for her offspring is a huge family affair. Both of Simmons’ daughters and one of her granddaughters, are all Gold Award Girl Scouts, a rare scenario in the world of Girl Scouting. Only about 5 percent of eligible Girl Scouts earn the award. Her son, Scott Simmons, of Gainesville, is an Eagle Scout. His son, Zachary, is a Boy Scout and his daughter, Teagan, is in Cub Scouts.
Above, Deanna Simmons (second from left, in back row) poses in 1956 with Brownie Troop 741, which operated out of Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School in Brookhaven. Her mother and troop coleader, Audrey Blanton, is in the back, at far right. Troop co-leader Thelma Fitzpatrick is on the left. The girls hold wings that represent their “flying up” from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts. (Simmons Family) Below, Deanna Simmons, right, with daughter Kathryn White, left, and granddaughter Aubree White
The Helen Foster Pin
Girl Scout volunteer Martha
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JANUARY 2022 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
Whitman said Simmons has been a major role model for herself and many others. “Her outstanding leadership qualities, organizational skills and ability to motivate others have been the power behind so much successful Girl Scouting in the Atlanta Regional Area,” Whitman wrote, in nominating Simmons for the Helen Foster Pin. “Through Deanna’s many efforts, thousands of girls and adults have grown into myriad roles making their communities and the world better.” A former registrar for the Gwinnett County Girl Scouts, Simmons helped launch the weeklong Rainbow Day Camp, now named Lilburn Day Camp, in 1982. She retired as its director in 2001, but has visited the scout camp every year and has served as one of its nurses for the past five years. As a Gold Award coach, she
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