COLUMBUS — Bettye Jean Gray Simmons, 80, died June 26, 2026. 

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Friday, at Carter’s Funeral Services with Antwion Collins officiating. Visitation will be from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, at the funeral home. Carter’s Funeral Services of Columbus is in charge of arrangements. 

Mrs. Simmons was born September 23, 1945, in West Point, to the late Willie Sam Gray and Estelle Warren Gray. She graduated from 5th Street Junior and Senior High School and was formally employed as a teacher at Seventh Day Adventist School. 

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by 10 siblings.

She is survived by her husband, Harold James Simmons; daughters, Kimberly De’Layne Jenkins Lajoie and Karama Ryans, both of Columbus; siblings, Vera Frances Gray-Husband of Texas and Robert L. Gray of Lancaster, Georgia; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.