Presided Over Rapid Growth Period, 1945-63 : L.T. Simmons Dies; Led County Schools

Linton T. Simmons, who presided over Orange County schools for 18 years and led the effort to establish Laguna Beach High School in 1935, died Sunday at his home in San Clemente after suffering a stroke. He was 88.

A private memorial service will be conducted for Simmons in San Clemente, and his ashes will be buried at sea, his daughter, Marjorie Wyatt, said. Simmons is also survived by his wife of 62 years, Edith; another daughter, Barbara Beers, and four grandchildren.

As superintendent of Orange County schools from 1945 until his retirement in 1963, Simmons was in charge of districts that grew in enrollment from 26,000 to 240,000 students. Of the rapid growth, he said, “Goodness knows what it will be in another 10 or 20 years. I’ve given up trying to predict enrollments.”

The county public school enrollment in 1985 was more than 337,000 students.

When he retired, he noted in an interview that the growth of knowledge had made education a lifelong task.

“The time span for new knowledge has become so short, scientists, mathematicians, doctors, engineers, teachers, in fact, everyone, has to study throughout his active life to keep up with the changes and even then cannot be expected to be an expert in more than a limited area of human endeavor,” he said.

Born in Phoenix and educated at the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California, Simmons worked briefly with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He taught agriculture at Brawley High School in the Imperial Valley and Grossmont High School in San Diego County before taking the superintendent’s job in Laguna Beach.

Simmons joined the county Department of Education in 1939 as an assistant superintendent, leaving briefly in 1943 to head up the Placentia Unified School District. He was an active community volunteer and served as president of the Orange County Tuberculosis Assn., the California Assn. of School Superintendents and the Laguna Beach Rotary Club.

After retiring, Simmons did some traveling, including a gift of a trip to Hawaii from colleagues and friends, and he spent much of his time gardening.

His daughter described him as a responsible and serious man who also possessed a keen sense of humor. He was always serious about the place of public schools, Watt said, noting that he considered them “the very basis of a working democracy.”