Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: MWirwicki on February 19, 2019, 12:32:53 pm
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For those that ever had the great privilege of meeting, Colene. She passed away last night. I never knew her last name until today but, she was the only Colene, I ever knew. She made damned sure you didn't call her "Colleen".
Colene Simmons, lived in the mountains of Tennessee. She was an accomplished flint knapper, leatherworker and an outstanding archer. She could string up a broom handle, sharpen the end of a stick and beat most anyone on the course with the pair. I met her about 25 years ago, I believe at the shoot in Cloverdale, IN. I think again at the old Kentucky Classic in Pulaski County, KY. Then more recent at the Tennessee Classic In Chapmansboro, TN. She was the kind of person that remembered your name even after several years. She was very knowing of primitive skills, natural healings and doing things the old way. She was very skilled, yet not boastful. Firm, but kind. Rough, yet gentle. I am deeply saddened; this world just lost a very special person.
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That is terrible, very sad to hear this, Matt. I was just asking someone on Facebook last week if they had seen her and they told me they had. Rough around the edges but a very nice person once you got to know her. I heard said that she had been a pilot in the Marine Corp.
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I believe that to be true, Eddie. I believe she was at the Classic, last year. You missed last year, I recall. My wife and Colene sat and talked for hours.
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Sad to hear. She was a giving person also. She gave my grandson a couple of gifts at the IBO shoot the last time Twin Oaks hosted it.
David
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I'm saddened by this news. Colene was a special person. You might not have thought so if you just met her but once you got to know her and her you she was a special person. Generous and one of the funniest people I ever met. I'll miss seeing her and Jack her 3 legged dog.
Matt, do you have contact info for her family?
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Yes, that's right, Pat. Once you got to know her...
Tomilee does. Her daughter's name is Audra Simmons and is on FB. Colene lived in Sneedville, TN. Christian Sells Funeral home in Rogersville, TN is handling arrangements.
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Sad news, indeed! I didn’t know her but she must have been an outstanding person. A salute to a veteran, and her skills will be missed!
Hawkdancer
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RIP Colene !
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Thanks Matt, :( I have known her for years and a finer person would be hard to find. She was one of the most giving people you will ever find and could do anything. She was in the Marine's and also was a pilot for Eastern air lines, she had epilepsy and said she found out when she tore the wing off a jet on the run way, they didn't like that so they retired her. She ran a shoe repair shop in east TN. the same little town Dolly is from and knew her well. She will be missed greatly, also her 3 leg dog Jack, she called him Tripod most of the time. :) Very funny girl and would keep you laughing all day if you stayed around her. :)
Pappy
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Dang, I didn't know, Colene was a my friend and I feel a great loss, she was one of a kind and the most intellectually brilliant woman I ever met in spite of her humble nature. If you got her going she could quote great literary works of 14th and 15th century authors verbatim, her memory was incredible. She presented herself in two court cases because as she said" I know more about the law than the lawyers I spoke to", she won both.
Colene was a Marine cargo pilot during the Vietnam war, later a commercial pilot.
She had a bit of blarney in her so occasionally she might exaggerate a story or two. She told me she had won great sums of money shooting international trap as well as shooting pool.
Her generosity was legendary, she told me she kept several extra vehicles to loan or give to people in her neighborhood who were down on their luck and had lost theirs.
Colene was abandoned as a child and was raised in an orphanage in Ga and still excelled in life.
Here is Colene with a teardrop camper she made herself to travel to tournaments. Being an epileptic she wasn't supposed to drive but did cautiously, she might take 8 hours to make a 3 hour trip, stopping to rest frequently to make sure she didn't have a seizure.
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I only met her a few times at Pappys and she was always giving something away or trading, The pot luck dinner line she always came by with some appetizer homemade cheese dips that were out of this world, a truly unique woman. Bob
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The first time I met Colene was at Carolina Traditional Archers State Shoot at Hickory, NC many years ago. A bunch of us were cutting the fool one evening when she walked up with a crossbow she had made. She has hand filed the leaf spring of a golf cart for the prod. The xbow pulled about 150# and Colene would cock it bare handed like it was nothing. Colene stopped going to the CTA shoots because her son died on Memorial Day weekend when that shoot took place. Her son's death really put a cloud over Colene's demeanor as it would anyone but Colene kept on trucking.
Another time at the Tenn. Classic Colene shot with Steve, Tina and Cody Parker and myself. Cody was probably about 9 and as we walked along the trail of the course she would feed Cody her arrows which Cody would send off to the way beyond but Colene would hand Cody another arrow and give him pointers. By the end of that round Colene had no more arrows. She went to her teardrop camper and come back out with another set of arrows ready for another round.
Another time Colene asked for my home address. A week or so later 2 large boxes came by UPS full of leather. It was mostly scraps but lots of good leather also. But, that was Colene.
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Great picture, Eric!
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Thanks for the picture Eric, that was her spot in the front yard, some ask why I let her camp in the front yard with Electric, I would just tell them
"because I like her" :) I will miss her for sure.
Pappy
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I understand she was an organ donor and had made arrangements prior to the death to make sure it happened, typical Colene. After her organs were donated she had planned for cremation.
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I heard that also Eric, yep giving till the end, that's her. :)
Pappy
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I’m sorry to read this news. She was very kind to me...a very bright and understanding person.