Simmons

For noted Charlotte, N.C., artist Peggy Simmons, the commission for a painting to hang in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering was a labor of love.

She met her husband, Jim Simmons, Text 66, MS Text 67, on campus 45 years ago. They married while he was a student and took up housekeeping in Burge Apartments.

"Georgia Tech means a lot to us, because it was there for us as we were married and provided a springboard for whatever success we've had together in life," said Jim Simmons, a member of the School of Chemical Engineering external advisory board.

Titled "Reflecting a Georgia Tech Life: The Past Inspiring the Future," the painting features the spanning windows of the Ford ES&T building's atrium, which mirrors reflections of several key Institute buildings.

"This building, especially with the big windows in the atrium area, just caught my attention," Peggy Simmons said. "It represents the future and it has a great reflection. Therefore, I had my idea — the reflection of the foundations of Georgia Tech and the future."

She said the painting illustrates "Jim's Georgia Tech life reflected in the building where he continues to inspire the future graduates of this institution."

Unveiled on April 24, the painting will adorn the walls of the seminar room named for Jim Simmons' parents, J. Harry and Myrtice Simmons.

The painting was commissioned by Ronald Rousseau, chair of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Cecil J. "Pete" Silas chair, who said, "I asked Peggy if she would do something for us that would have meaning not just because it came from her but because it would elevate our environment, it would elevate the atmosphere and, through that, elevate the kind of thinking that goes on in this room."

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