Millicent Stewart Simmons December 11, 1933 - January 11, 2023

Millicent Stewart Simmons was born December 11, 1933 in Spanish Fork, Utah, and passed away January 11, 2023 in Salt Lake City of natural causes.

After high school graduation, she attended Brigham Young University for two years, then transferred to the University of Utah because she wanted to major in dance.  Millicent then attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.  After completing one year, she married LeRoy Dilworth (Dil) Simmons, Jr. on July 3, 1957.  He was from Salt Lake City and she had met him at the U of U.  They moved to Venezuela and stayed there for nine years.  Dil was working for an oil-related company as an engineer and Millicent was busy having three children in three and a half years.  While there, they studied Spanish and worked in a little theater acting and singing.  She was the only American dancing with the only modern dance company in Venezuela.

They were transferred to Coral Gables, Florida, for two years, where Millicent taught at Miami-Dade Junior college.  She was able to return to the U of Wisconsin to write her thesis and complete her Masters in Dance Education.  Then they went back to South America again, this time to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Their children attended the International School there.  Once again they were very active in amateur theater and Millicent taught classes to an international group.  They had to leave Argentina in 1973 because of the many kidnappings of Americans and others.  They went to New Orleans for nine months, which was a huge cultural shock.

Then it was on to Birmingham, Alabama, where their kids finished their pre-college schooling.  Millicent became a Dance Movement Specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts after much hard work and training, and completed residencies in schools throughout the U.S.  As a result, Millicent received awards as Dance Educator of the Year for both Alabama and the Southern District in 1986-1987.  Because of the work she had done, Millicent was offered a job in a new magnet school for the arts K-8 in Huntsville, Alabama.  At the same time Dil’s company in Birmingham was closing its plant and he took early retirement.  They moved to Huntsville, built a beautiful house, and Dil got a new job.  When Dil retired again, they started traveling around the world to visit all the places they hadn’t yet seen.

Millicent was grateful for the wonderful training she received during her college years and after.  She studied with Martha Graham, Alwin Nicolais, Virginia Tanner, Murray Lewis, Shirley Ririe, Joan Woodbury, Betty Hayes, Eric Hawkins, Walter Raines, and Gale Ormiston, among others.  Millicent delivered papers on dance education in the U.S., Australia, Finland, and Canada.  She even helped to develop the dance curricula for the State of Alabama.

Millicent danced with the Fundacion de Danzas Contemporanea in Venezuela and the Birmingham Creative Dance Company.  She was the founder/director of the Birmingham Children’s Creative Dance Company.  Millicent performed and choreographed more than 24 musicals in Venezuela, Argentina, and the U.S. and danced in television commercials in Venezuela and the U.S.  She taught children and adults to dance creatively everywhere she lived.

She is survived by her children, Anne, Kevin, and Georgina, four grandchildren, Samantha, Dana, Riley, and Wyatt, and many nieces and nephews.  Her parents were Vivian Hawkins and Otto Stewart, Jr.

Memorial services to honor Millicent will be held later this Spring.

Donations to Planned Parenthood, the Osher Lifetime Learning Institute, the Unitarian Universalist Church, or your favorite charity would be appreciated.