Submitted by Descendants: Heather Danielle, Paula Townsend, and Tara Lynn MARCZYNSKI
Simeon Lyte Townsend was born a simple country boy, but through his love of reading and learning, he became a well-educated and respected man. He was soft spoken, an eloquent speaker, and a great storyteller. He often regaled his listeners with stories of nature and history of the Suwannee River region where he grew up.
He was well-traveled, having been to every state in the U.S., every province in Canada, and many countries throughout the world.
He served as a railway mail clerk throughout Florida, and then later became the rural mail carrier for the Bell (FL) area. Children looked forward to mail deliveries on Saturday because they knew that they would receive a stick of chewing gum from “Mr. Sim”. They would run out to meet him at the mail box to get their treat!
Sim was co-founder and trustee of the Suwannee River Regional Library. His strong support of libraries, and his lobbying of the state legislature, provided half a million dollars’ worth of funding for public libraries throughout north Florida. He was recognized by the American Library Association as one of two outstanding library trustees of North America in 1962.
Simeon Lyte Townsend was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 2004