David W. Simmons

David was born in New Castle, Pennsylvania on November 20, 1957 to Charles and Ila Simmons.  The family enjoyed camping and cross-country driving vacations. At the tender age of eight, his father tragically died from a heart attack. His mom, in an effort to be closer to her parents, moved David and his brothers, Lee and Dennis, to Glendale, California. David was an avid surfer in his teenage years. During his senior year of high school, tragedy struck again with his mom losing her battle with ovarian cancer.  In his pursuit of flying, he worked as a teen at the local airport sweeping hangars and eventually earned his A&P to work on aircraft. This helped fund his pursuit of his pilot’s licenses to begin his career in aviation. He moved to Florida where he attended Embry Riddle and Daytona Beach Community College earning an associate’s degree in business. He worked his way through many different avenues of aviation in his pursuit to fly commercially and landed his dream job with American Airlines in September of 1985.

He met the love of his life, Lannett Simmons, while working in  corporate aviation in Montgomery, AL. They were together for thirty-six years. American Airlines based them in Chicago, IL and they later transferred to Dallas, Texas where they welcomed three wonderful children, Blythe Imhof, Brennen Simmons and Bailey Simmons. They are blessed with an incredible son-by-love, Kyle Imhof, one granddaughter, Ila Imhof and have a grandson, August Imhof, due to be born on May 4th.

David’s first love was his Heavenly Father. He put on Christ in baptism as a young teen and he lived his life daily for Christ. He was a wonderful servant leader to others and served as an elder at Legacy Church of Christ for six years.  He loved working with the teens at Legacy and participated in nine Wilderness Treks hiking with many teens. His biggest desire was to bring as many people as he could to know and love Christ. 

David was diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis in August of 2016 and received the gift of life with a lung transplant in June of 2017. He took full advantage of the gift given him by traveling, spending time with family and friends, riding his motorcycle and encouraging those around him to dig deeper into their faith in Jesus Christ! In June of 2019 David was diagnosed with chronic rejection and although it ultimately took his life here on earth, he has won the victory of being in the presence of our Heavenly Father!