ROCKPORT — Rebecca “Becky” Newman Simms, 92, of Rockport, Maine, died peacefully Jan. 2, 2025, at MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital.

Becky was born Sept. 10, 1932 in Clarks Green, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of Dr. William Harris Newman II and Christine Evans Newman.   

She resided for almost eighty years in both Clarks Green and Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, before she moved to Rockport in 2012 to live with her daughter, Sarah.

Becky graduated from the Clarks Summit-Clarks Green Joint Schools in 1950 and Vassar College in 1954. She later earned a Masters of Science in Elementary Education from Marywood University in 1975.

She spent most of her childhood living in a home built by her grandparents, the first Dr. William Harris Newman and Alice Coon Newman, on East Grove Street in Clarks Green. The first medical practice of her grandfather and father was located on the side of the house and it was where Becky was delivered by her grandfather.  

During her lifetime, Becky kept many journals about her experiences of family life in a small town close-knit community especially leading to the years before World War II.

“We lived only a block up from school, so we came home at noon. Our family ate every meal together, the main one at noon. Dad had office hours three times a day, and meals were often interrupted with phone calls.”

“I learned to help out in the office. Of course, there were always phones to answer. I developed x-rays in the basement dark room, helped send out bills, and autoclave supplies."

Her most cherished memory was riding along with her father when making house calls, often on Sunday afternoons, after church services. They traveled on many of the same rural country roads where her grandfather made his patient visits on a one-horse shay.

“The countryside was so beautiful and we had time to visit. That was very special to me. After I was sixteen, he taught me how to drive on these same roads.”

During the summers of 1952 and 1953 while attending Vassar, Becky was an au pair for the three daughters of Elliott and Kathleen Forbes on the Elizabeth Islands, off the coast of Cape Cod.

In her summer diary she wrote: “I took care of three darling girls, ages four, seven and ten and I used some of my recently acquired teaching skills, particularly the importance of children’s literature. They especially enjoyed Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet Meets a Heffalump and learning the Harvard fight song as a gift for their father’s birthday.”

One summer she met the author John Hersey, a guest of the Forbes, while he was researching his novel, The Marmot Drive.

After graduating from college, her first teaching assignment was in Madison, Connecticut where she met her first husband, Peter Shepherd. They later moved back to Pennsylvania where Becky began a teaching career that spanned for almost 30 years, in the same building where she attended school.

Becky was a substitute teacher before being hired fulltime in the school district. In 1966, her first assignment was as a last minute replacement for a first grade teacher, Miss Dorothy Campbell, who had been injured in a fall. Miss Campbell was not only Becky’s first grade teacher, but was set to be her daughter, Sarah’s teacher as well. Becky always said that along with the challenges of her first teaching role, there was an unexpected challenge of coaching her daughter not to call her “mommy” and follow the same protocols as the other students in the classroom.

Once established as a second grade teacher, she immersed her students with learning about the local history of Clarks Green and Clarks Summit. Classroom studies were complemented with walking trips around town. It was not unusual to see her classes walking up on Grove Street, past her childhood home, toward the Clarks Green cemetery, the final resting place of Clarks Green founding father Deacon William Clark and his ancestors, or a nearby home with a hidden attic space that was used to conceal runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad.

The story of Andre the Seal was a fixture in her reading curriculum and her students loved following Andre's adventures. Becky’s classes corresponded annually with the New England Aquarium to receive the latest updates about Andre’s annual trek back to Maine from his winter respites in Boston. Each class would always try to predict the date when he would arrive back in Rockport Harbor.

In 1957, her first child, Peter, was born with a rare disorder, “arthrogryposis.” Peter’s disability caused severe joint contractures and limited his ability to walk. Although his life expectancy at birth was extremely grim, he lived until he was 49.

Becky persevered, as a single parent, determined that her son experience sporting events, travel, and going to the movies, and restaurants, all in a time before handicapped parking spots and license plates were the norm. For years, she shared Peter’s joy of their adventures of attending Philadelphia Phillies baseball and Penn State home football games, and once seeing the Nittany Lions’s opponent Alabama coach, “Bear” Bryant, casually leaning against the goalpost during pre-game warmups wearing his trademark houndstooth hat.

But, her biggest educational challenge during her lifetime came with advocating on the county and state levels for Peter to be mainstreamed in the public school system in a time when hardly any other physically disabled students received an education that matched their intellectual capabilities. With Becky’s enduring love and support of Peter, plus her unwavering commitment to his right for a formal education, he graduated from public high school and attended and resided at the University of Scranton while obtaining his undergraduate and graduate degrees.  

While living in Pennsylvania, Becky was active in her community including serving on the board of directors for the Abington Community Library and Friends of the Library Board, and was active in The Junior League of Scranton and P.E.O. Sisterhood. After her retirement from teaching, she continued her passion for sharing children’s literature by leading story hours for young patrons at the library.

In Maine, she was a member of the First Congregational Church in Camden and the Maine Chapter of P.E.O. Sisterhood.

Becky was predeceased by her parents; son, Peter Evans Shepherd; brother, Dr. William Harris Newman III; and second husband, Frank “Fritz” Butler Simms.

She is survived by her daughter, Sarah Christine Shepherd of Rockport, Maine; brother Dr. Henry Evans Newman of Jensen Beach, Florida; very special cousins Natalie Nichols Hannum, Dunkirk, New York, whom she loved like a sister, and George Nichols of New Bern, North Carolina; and stepsons Daniel Wilcox Simms, Fleetwood, North Carolina; and Michael Hawkins Simms, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Becky adored her sweet Basset Hound "granddog," Agatha, who spent many hours napping by her side especially when the morning and afternoon sunshine was streaming in the front bedroom window and nibbles from breakfast and lunch were waiting to be tended to.

The family is forever grateful to Dr. Lisa Sherwood of MaineHealth Primary Care for her steadfast kindness and professionalism with caring for Becky the past decade.

The family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Rockport Public Library or the Abington Community Library, Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania.

Becky did not want a service and requested that her ashes be buried at her gravesite in the Clarks Green cemetery. A private gathering will be held this summer at the convenience of the family.  

Condolences may be shared with the family at longfuneralhomecamden.com.  

Arrangements are with the Long Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 9 Mountain Street, Camden.