William S Sims

1881 - 1959

William S. “Bill” Sims was in the insurance and jewelry business in Chicago where he raised three daughters. After enjoying the boom times in Chicago society, the Depression of the '30s hit the family hard. Bill and his wife Arlene Crane Sims travelled to Florida, much of which was a swampy wilderness that had been laid out on paper for development before the Depression ended the anticipated real estate boom.

His brother Reg Sims had purchased land at what was surely a bargain price in the interior of Florida (now New Port Richey). Bill managed a small apartment building on Biscayne Blvd. in Miami. It was a Two- story affair with about 8 or 10 units on each floor. When his family visited, they would stay in one of the furnished units. They could hop on the bus line in front of the building and ride to the beach.

Due to his handyman skills, Bill kept busy doing maintenance and gardening at the apartments. He was particularly proud of the solar water heating unit that he cobbled together on the roof. It was basically a bunch of black pipes laid on top of the building that worked very well in the Florida sun.

In the early 1950's they retired to a small house in the Miami suburbs where Bill spent much of his time tinkering with his 1951 Chevrolet coupe. It always ran like a clock, and “Pops” would drive his grandkids to the beach in it during summer vacations.

William Sims passed away as a result of prostate cancer in 1959. Arlene lived out her years at their daughter Jane Richardson’s family home in California until she passed on at age 89 in 1971.

They are interred at Georgia Memorial Park, Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia, in a family plot purchased by their daughter Eleanor.
By Louis A. Richardson III
- Grandson