{"id":212,"date":"2026-02-11T14:58:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/kirkbuilding\/?page_id=212"},"modified":"2026-08-14T14:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T14:10:54","slug":"photo4","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/kirkbuilding\/photo4\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\t\t\tProfessor Teaching Class\t<\/h2>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"Students\n\t<\/figure>\n\t

Professor Lucy Simmons teaching Current Affairs to a class of 700 in Kirk Auditorium in the summer of 1931.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\"lucysimmonsecho1931\"\n\t<\/figure>\n\tLucy Simmons<\/strong>
\nProfessor of History, 1918-1955
\nHead of Division of Social Science, 1943-1955\n\tLucy Simmons, daughter of George Edward & Emily (Pipkin) Simmons, was raised on the farm near Macon, MO where she was born, July 25, 1884.\u00a0 She was one of a family of five children, including Amy, her twin.\u00a0 She died July 28, 1968 in a La Plata, MO nursing home and was buried at Oakwood Cemetery, Macon.
\nLucy began teaching after graduating from Macon High School and though we do not have a chronology of her career, we do know that she taught in the high schools at Macon, Callao & Paris, MO.\u00a0 She entered the University of Missouri around 1912 and in 1918, at the age of 34, earned both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science in Education.\u00a0 That fall, she joined the faculty of the First District Normal School (later Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, now Truman State University) as Associate Professor of History.
\nMiss Simmons remained at Northeast the rest of her active career, serving several times as acting head of the Department of Social Science and finally being named to the position in 1943.
\nShe also continued her own education, earning a Master of Arts at the University of Chicago in 1922 and attending summer sessions at several universities over the years.\u00a0 She earned her PhD in history at the University of Colorado in 1953, two years before she retired with emeritus status at the end of the summer 1955 quarter. \u00a0\u00a0\n\t

Lucy was the author of two books about the history of the college. The History of Northeast Missouri State Teachers College (1927), was written for the school’s 60th anniversary, and the other, The Contributions of Eugene Fair to Education (1935), was in honor of Dr Fair’s 10th anniversary as President.\u00a0 She was a member of Kappa Delta Pi, the education honor society, and was one of the founders of the Kirksville Chapter of the American Association of University Women, serving as the first president, 1954-55.<\/p>\n“Dr. Lucy Simmons Dies; Former Social Science Head”.\u00a0 Nemoscope<\/em> 23:1 (Fall 1968).
\n“Dr. Simmons, 84, Dies; Funeral Wednesday”.\u00a0 Kirksville Daily Express<\/em>, 29 July 1968.
\n“Faculty – 1918-1919”. Bulletin of the First District Normal School<\/em> 18:6 (June 1918).
\n“Faculty Retirements at End of Summer”.\u00a0 Nemoscope<\/em> 10:1 (Fall 1955).
\n“Faculty Sketches: Miss Lucy Simmons”.\u00a0 The Northeast Missourian [Index]<\/em>. 9 May 1935.
\nSelby, P.O. Biographies of Deceased Faculty Members<\/em>. Vol. 2. Kirksville:\u00a0 Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, 1972.\n

Please Note: This biographical sketch has been compiled from secondary sources and may not be complete or totally accurate; it is therefore subject to update or correction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\t

\n

 <\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBack to Mural\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tLast Photo\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Photo \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Teaching Class Professor Lucy Simmons teaching Current Affairs to a class of 700 in Kirk Auditorium in the summer of 1931.   Lucy Simmons Professor of History, 1918-1955 Head of Division of Social Science, 1943-1955 Lucy Simmons, daughter of George Edward & Emily (Pipkin) Simmons, was raised on the farm near Macon, MO where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-page-builder.php","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-212","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nPhoto 4 - History of the Kirk Building of Truman State University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exhibits.truman.edu\/kirkbuilding\/photo4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Photo 4 - 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