Fred Bryan Simpson passed away on August 5, 2014, at his home in Huntsville. Fred was born in 1935 in Birmingham to Nellie and Joe Simpson. He grew up in Calera, Alabama, with his mother and his five siblings. He grew up very poor and always worked several jobs to help support his family. He hitchhiked every day in order to attend Montevallo High School. Before he could graduate, he was expelled for threatening to beat up the principal. He lied about his age in order to join the Air Force, where he served from the age of sixteen until twenty-one, stationed for the majority of that time in Japan. He then returned to Birmingham, where he worked nights as a police officer and attended classes during the day at Howard College (now Samford University), graduating in 1961.
While Fred was working the night shift, he went to a diner and met a beautiful young telephone operator also working nights. A romance of a lifetime began that evening. As soon as he graduated from college, Fred married Peggy Ann Hollaway and they moved to Nashville for Fred to attend Vanderbilt Law School. No one in Fred’s family had ever attended college before him. Defying the odds and without financial support from anyone, he graduated from one of the finest law schools in the country.
Fred and Peggy moved to Huntsville in 1964 in order for Fred to practice law. He was an investigator for the US Army at Redstone Arsenal for a year. From 1965-1969, he practiced law at Morring, Giles, and Watson. In 1969, Governor Albert Brewer appointed Fred to be the District Attorney of Madison County. He subsequently won two more elections and served as DA until 1981, and served as president of the Alabama District Attorneys Association. While in office, he was instrumental in getting the first state laws written against drunk driving and against child abuse. As a prosecutor, Fred tried over sixty murder cases.
When he left the DA’s office, Fred walked across the street and set out his shingle on the North Side Square, where he specialized in criminal law for another 25 years. Fred was known throughout the legal community as a bulldog in the courtroom. He fought tough and hard for his clients, who usually could barely pay him anything. He most enjoyed being appointed to tough capital murder cases that nobody else wanted to handle. Remarkably, he won acquittals for clients in two different capital murder cases. After one of those acquittals, he was recognized in June of 2002 by the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association for outstanding legal representation in a criminal case. Before he retired, one of his lifelong dreams was realized when his son, Derek, joined his law practice in 1995.
Fred published three books. The first, “The Sins of Madison County,” is about lynchings that occurred in Madison County, Alabama. The second, “Murder in the Heart of Dixie,” is about capital murder cases in Madison County from 1904-1996. For the third book, “A Walk Through Downtown Huntsville-Then and Now,” Fred used stacks of old photographs taken in downtown Huntsville at the turn of the century. He determined exactly where the photographer was standing when the photo was taken, as well as the time of day and time of year. He recreated those photographs from the same location and published them side by side.
In addition to being an author, Fred was also an accomplished artist. His charcoals and oil paintings can be found all over the Madison County courthouse, in his office and in the homes of his family. One of his paintings of downtown Huntsville was recognized by the Huntsville Museum of Art. For years, scores of friends and family looked forward to receiving Fred and Peggy’s Christmas cards as, each year Fred created a beautiful piece of art for the card.
Fred was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, David Simpson and Woody Simpson, and his sister, Mitzi Exum. He also greatly loved and missed his grandmother, Mary Wonder, and his brother-in-law, Tom Pilgreen.
He is survived by his wife, Peggy, his children, Bryan Simpson of Atlanta, Cindy Howard (Tim) of Huntsville and Derek Simpson (Shannon), of Huntsville, Yvonne Varnes of Arden, NC, his grandchildren, Betsy Howard, Sally Howard, Charlie Howard, Sam Howard, Kate Simpson, Jane Simpson, Will Simpson, Josh Varnes, Adam Varnes and Ryan Varnes. He is also survived by his sisters, Dorcas Pilgreen and Shirley Johnson (Harold) of Huntsville and his sister-in-law, Mary Simpson of Tucson, AZ, as well as many nieces and nephews. He is also survived by countless Hollaway in-laws, who he immediately fell in love with when he met them at the family home at his first Sunday lunch in 1959.
Visitation will be at Whitesburg Baptist Church on Thursday, August 7th, from 10:00-1:00, with the funeral following at 1:00.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to either of the following: Madison County Volunteer Lawyers Program, P.O. Box 2913, Huntsville, AL 35804; or Food Bank of North Alabama, P.O. Box 18607, Huntsville, AL 35804.
