Betty Simmons
Return to All Inductees
Betty was born in Chatham and attended Queen Mary Public School, Chatham Collegiate Institute and Chatham Vocational School during her growing years. Upon completion of school she joined the Chrysler Parts Plant where she worked in the printing area for 10 years. She had met a young man by the name of Bert Simmons and after their marriage she would retire from Chryslers to raise her family of two daughters, Susan and Shelley.
After spending her time raising the two young girls she would accept a position from Cliff MacArthur working for the city of Chatham. Her job would be the Memorial Arena box office person in charge of all the ticket processing and selling for all events at the arena. In 1959 the Junior Maroon’s organization started its first team and of course Betty was in charge of organizing the ticket sales. As the years rolled by she saw the club change hands and when Roy Bruhlman took over as the new owner in 1976 she developed a friendship with Roy’s wife, Della. This led to Betty becoming more involved with the Maroons by taking players and boarding them while they played for the team. She even got her husband Bert involved and together they would become fixtures with the Maroon organization over the next 12 years. She saw many players come and go over the years and her two favorites were Eddy Lemaire from New Haven, Connecticut and Mike Capell from Kirkland Lake. They were both funny and polite and became part of the Simmon’s family.
Betty is still involved with golf after playing at the Ridgetown Golf Club many years and being their President and Chairperson of many of their committees. She also still knits which was an art that she started when she had extra time at the box office in the arena. People would see her knitting and loved her work so much that they would order mitts, scarves and sweaters from her for their own family. She laughingly says that the city of Chatham paid her to knit and sell tickets. Today her hobbies are her beautiful back yard garden and her three grandchildren Jason, Josh and Amy.