Deborah Hunter Simmons

It is with great sorrow that we inform you of the passing of Ms. Deborah Hunter Simmons.

Ms. Simmons passed away on Monday, March 24, 2025 at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville NC.

Arrangements will be announced by Davis Funeral Home, LLC of Hartsville, SC.

Peace I Leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

                                                                             John 14:27

A Celebration of Life and Laughter:

On March 24, 2025, the world got a little quieter, but Heaven got a whole lot louder. Deborah Kasandra “Sista” Hunter Simmons, 77, a true force of nature, took her final bow.

Born August 29, 1947 to the late Roosevelt and Leonease Davis Hunter, Deborah was reared in Hartsville, South Carolina. She was a proud graduate of Butler High School Class of 1967, but let’s be honest—her real education came from the grand university of life, where she majored in Socializing, Boldness, and the Fine Art of Being Unapologetically Herself.

In the 1980s, she packed up and made her way to Mount Vernon, New York, bringing a little Southern charm (and a lot of southern volume) to the big city. Though she swapped country roads for city blocks, she remained the same bodacious, tell-it-like-it-is, life-of-the-party woman she had always been. Later, she made her way back down south to North Carolina, where she continued to live life on her own terms—loud, proud, and ready to enjoy life with family.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Vernon Simmons, a sister, Prima Lee D. Johnson, a brother, Roosevelt ‘Teddy’ Hunter, Jr. She leaves behind to cherish her precious memories, four daughters: Natalie Simmons of Fayetteville, North Carolina, Blair Simmons and Crystal Jefferson of Mt. Vernon, New York, and Latonya Simmons of Charleston, South Carolina, and 14 grandchildren. Deborah is survived by her brothers, Larry D. Hunter and Gerald Hunter, both of Florence, South Carolina, a niece, Louise Davis-Booker of Mt. Vernon, New York who was reared in the home like a sister. A special former sister-in-law, Catherine ‘Kitty’ Hunter-Brown, along with five nieces, two great nieces, one great, great niece, one nephew, one great nephew, and a host of other close relatives and friends.

Though she has departed, rest assured she is somewhere right now, throwing one heck of a celestial soirée.

In honor of Deborah, raise a glass, eat an extra plate, and remember: life is one big party, and she’d want you to keep dancing.