Mrs. Doris Wheeler Simmons, of Finley, TN, passed away Wednesday, October 21, 2026 at West Tennessee Healthcare-Dyersburg Hospital. In her youth, she was a competitive basketball player, with the rest of her family, and loved working in sales at the local Woolworth Store. Doris was a life-long care-giver. After attending nursing school she worked in that capacity as a labor & delivery nurse and as a surgical nurse. She was a devoted mother, always involved in or attending activities that her daughters were participating in, including youth sports, school PTA offices and leading local Girl Scouts. Her family always came first in her list of priorities. Her Christian faith was of utmost importance to her, throughout her life. She was a member of Finley Baptist Church, where she went on trips to women's conferences, Young at Heart activities and always made sure she could attend worship to participate in the Lord's Supper observance. Her compassionate nature and deep faith were the hallmarks of her life that anyone who knew her would recognize.

Doris is survived by her daughters; Lee Ann Simmons, of Knoxville, TN and Teresa Perkins of Birmingham, AL, and was greatly loved as "Auntie" by her many nieces and nephews. She is fondly remembered as "Grandmother" by her grandchildren, Callie and Chason Farnell, Kyle and Brandy Perkins and Lauren and Kurt Kamena and her beloved great-grandson Miller Lee Farnell and another soon expected. She is preceded in death by her loving husband, of nearly 60 years, Lee Hastings Simmons, her brother George Thomas "GT" Wheeler and her sisters; Virginia Tidwell, Christine Seaton and Clara Morrow.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at Dyersburg Funeral Home from 5:00 until 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held at Finley Baptist Church at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026 conducted by Bro. Trevor Sewell and Bro. Charlie Halliburton with visitation at the church beginning at 12:00 p.m. Entombment will follow in the Simmons family mausoleum in Fairview Cemetery in Dyersburg, TN. Friends and family members of Mrs. Doris Simmons will be honored to serve as pallbearers.

The family request, in lieu of flowers, that memorials be directed to the ministries of Finley Baptist Church or to support the work of Ann's New Life Pregnancy Center in Pell City, Alabama.