Hugh Byron Sims, Jr.

The longing of Byron Sims heart was granted on November 28 when he passed into the presence of our heavenly Father and Jesus his Savior, Redeemer and Sanctifier. Hugh Byron Sims Jr. was born on May 21, 1932 to the late Hugh Byron Sims Sr. and Kathryn Kessler Sims.

A lifelong resident of Wilmore and graduate of Wilmore High School where he played basketball and baseball under coach Bill Maxwell, Byron went on to graduate from the University of Kentucky College of pharmacy in 1956 and worked side-by-side with his dad at Sims Drugstore from 1957 until his father’s death in 1974. Thereafter, Byron served as the only pharmacist in Wilmore until 2003 when he sold the business having served 48 years in the Wilmore community. Early on at the drug store he joined with his dad in a TV sales and service business which often found Byron perched on a local roof installing TV antennas sometimes with a short stepladder leaning against the antenna poll.  His dedication to serving the pharmacy needs of Wilmore residents led him to making after-hours late-night deliveries and to sometimes traveling to Nicholasville to a sister pharmacy to acquire medication that he did not have in stock.  His compassion and knowledge found many a patron leaning on the pharmacy window counter to discuss their medical needs. While serving as pharmacist, it was a special moment for many patrons when Byron would move to the old-fashioned soda fountain and whip up one of his famous milkshakes or Cherry Coke’s. Byron’s spontaneous and unique sense of humor was a delight to all who knew him.

Early in his life Byron developed a passion for baseball. it has been quipped that he would spend his days in an effort to relieve the pain of local residents and in the evening he would strap on baseball cleats to go out and inflict pain on some of those very same residents by dishing out a sound defeat on the ball field. While he pitched for local mens’ baseball teams, he began sharing his passion for baseball by coaching Little League and Babe Ruth league teams.  He also coached teams in the Wilmore church softball league and later formed the Sims Drugs softball team which gained prominence and dominance in Jessamine, Fayette and other central Kentucky counties as well as landing spots in national softball tournaments venturing as far away at St. Louis.  Byron is an inductee into the Jessamine County Sports Hall of Fame and recipient of the Wilmore Citizenship Award.

Byron said that going forward at a 1956 Billy Graham Crusade in Louisville Kentucky was a significant milestone in his life in Christ. His life in Christ was expressed in a lifetime of loving, conscientious service to the people of Wilmore, in his exemplary leadership as a coach and in his loving devotion to family. He was a longtime member of the Wilmore Methodist Church and Great Commission Fellowship.

He is survived by a brother Larry Lee Sims (Rethia), a sister Mary Kathryn Perkins (Willie); sons Hugh Byron Sims III (Rose) and Sherman Peel; along with grandchildren Stephanie Johns Smith (Marcus); Jennifer Wiggs; Michelle Wiggs Laubenheimer; Kristin Sims Caudill (Daniel); Ashley Sims Durham (Kenny); Hugh Byron Sims IV; Shoshana Sims, Freya Ezra Sims; Timothy Byron Sims, Sasha Wright Gabriella Bradshaw and Kelsey Scott; daughters in law Kathy Kelley Sims (Benjamin) and Melody Tipton Sims (Frank Sr.), along with numerous great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, Byron was preceded in death by wives Barbara Bowman Sims and Helen Sallee Sims and children Frank Stephen Sims Sr., Vera Lynn Jones, Kathryn Cherice Sims Wiggs, Benjamin Jacob Sims; grandson Frank Stephen Sims Jr., granddaughter Korianna Blackford and brothers Charles Kessler Sims and Michael Lynn Sims.

Pall Bearers are Hugh Byron Sims III, Daniel Caudill, Kenny Durham, Jeff Stotts, Dana Carmichael and Don Jager with other softball teammates serving as honorary bearers. The family will greet friends on Friday Dec. 6, beginning at 4:00 PM and ending at 8:00 PM at the Great  Commission Fellowship Church and on Saturday from 10:00 AM until time of Service at 11:00 AM.

Interment at Bluegrass Memorial Gardens will immediately follow the service.

Donations may be made to Great Commission Fellowship Church in Wilmore.

All arrangements are under the direction of Hager & Cundiff Funeral Home and we would like to express our deepest sympathy to the Sims family and friends.

This obituary was lovingly submitted by Byron’s family