Charlene Deloris Simmons Hubbard, 85, passed away on February 28, 2024.
She was born on July 3, 1938, on Snowy Mountain, also known as East Dry Run, Cherry Grove. She was the sixth of seven children born to the late Ralph and Mabel Louella Tichenor Simmons.
Mrs. Hubbard attended one-room schools on Snowy Mountain before moving to Franklin in 1951 and graduating from Franklin High School in 1957. During her high school years, she worked for The Pendleton Times and enjoyed it very much.
Two weeks after graduation, she moved to Washington, DC, where her job with the FBI was waiting for her. In 1959, she was married to Robert Everett Hubbard of Washington, DC. To that union, three children were born, Robert Simmons, Charlene Ann, and Susan Marie. After her children were raised, she went back to work for the Montgomery County Schools as a bus operator. She loved it, but decided after almost 25 years, she needed a much quieter lifestyle and retired in 2000.
She loved her church, her loving family, her country and gospel music, and good Ole West Virginia, which she still called home. She frequently said, “You can take me out of the mountains, but you can’t take the mountains out of me!”
She was the last surviving member of her immediate family.
Her husband, Robert Hubbard, survives.
Also surviving are three children and two in-laws, Robert (Eileen), Charlene Ann (Joe), and Susan (Doug, deceased); five grandchildren, Lauren Evans (Sam), Olivia Hughes (Jake), Stephen Robertson (Amanda), Cory Robertson, and Miranda Henry; three great-grandchildren, Ryleigh Ann and Jack Everett Robertson and Westley Robert Evans; a niece; and several nephews.
She was also preceded in death by brothers Melvin Ralph, Edgar Leroy and Vernon Clay; and sisters Mabel Arlene, Charlotte Louise, and Lula Belle Morton.
Visitation will be held from 10 a.m. to noon today at Holy Cross Church in Garrett Park, Maryland, where Mass of Christian burial will follow. Interment will be at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Memorial donations may be made to Holy Cross Church.
Arrangements were by Collins Funeral Home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
