The soft beeping of hospital monitors filled the room, steady and unrelenting.<\/p>\n
Still, it couldn\u2019t drown out the music.<\/p>\n
From a speaker nearby, \u201cI Shall Wear a Crown\u201d played quietly in the background \u2014 a gospel song about faith, reward and the promise of something beyond this life. Around the bed, voices rose with the lyrics. Prayer, song and family \u2014 not the Holy Trinity of Scripture, but one that had shaped this group\u2019s life just the same.<\/p>\n
Shannon Sims Alfred held her father\u2019s hand and leaned in close.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Dad, you are the best dad a girl could ever ask for,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018You\u2019re going to have the biggest crown.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
They had celebrated his birthday just days earlier. On March 23, they gathered again \u2014 this time to pray, to sing and to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
Known throughout Fort Worth as T.A., Theophlous Aron Sims Sr., the longest-serving board member in Fort Worth ISD history, died that day at 88.<\/p>\n
For more than three decades, Sims helped shape the direction of the district \u2014 elected in 1983, later becoming its first Black board president, and remaining a steady presence in Fort Worth schools for a generation of students and families. He served under seven superintendents, and oversaw 37 graduating classes \u2014 watching hundreds of thousands of Fort Worth students walk across stages, one by one, to take hold of their futures.<\/p>\n
But inside that hospital room, that title hardly mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father is my champion. He is my friend,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is my best friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who was Dr. T.A. Sims?
Full name: Theophlous Aron Sims Sr.<\/p>\n
Died: March 23, 2026, at age 88<\/p>\n
Family: His wife, Nancy W. Sims; son, T.A. Sims Jr.; daughters Shannon Sims Alfred and Stephanie Sims Sipho; and four granddaughters, Cara Alfred, Carlynne Alfred, Dekhota Sipho and Dallyce Sipho, who knew him as \u201cPaw Paw.\u201d<\/p>\n
Role: Longest-serving member of the Fort Worth ISD board of trustees<\/p>\n
Tenure: 1983-2019<\/p>\n
Historic firsts: First Black president of the Fort Worth ISD board; Texas Southern\u2019s first pharmacy student to graduate in three years<\/p>\n
Profession: Pharmacist, co-owner of Sims Pharmacy and Sims Enterprises Inc.<\/p>\n
Community impact: Advocate for students, college access and Black entrepreneurship in Fort Worth<\/p>\n
National service: Appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the National Institutes of Health Sickle Cell Anemia Advisory Board<\/p>\n
Honors: T.A. Sims Elementary School named in his honor; recognized as a \u201cLiving Legend\u201d by the Dr. Marion J. Brooks Foundation<\/p>\n
Funeral services
Visitation and wake: 10 a.m. Friday, April 10<\/p>\n
Funeral: Saturday, April 11<\/p>\n
Location: Carter Metropolitan CME Church, Fort Worth<\/p>\n
A servant\u2019s life<\/p>\n
Her father often explained his work in simple terms, Shannon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe would always tell me, \u2018Shannon, I\u2019m a servant,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cSo whatever I can do to help somebody, that\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
That belief guided him in public office, but it also showed up in quieter ways \u2014 the kind that didn\u2019t make headlines, she said.<\/p>\n
At Sims Pharmacy at 944 E. Berry St., Sims and his wife once filled the store with toys during Christmas \u2014 not to sell, but to give away. Years later, a nurse recognized his name when she saw it on a hospital chart and went looking for his room.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said, \u2018He made my Christmas special,\u2019\u201d Shannon recalled. \u201cShe said that stayed with her all her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a longtime advocate for education, Sims also made sure students saw opportunities beyond their neighborhoods. He chartered buses and paid out of pocket to take O.D. Wyatt High School students on college visits \u2014 many for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted them to see what was possible,\u201d his daughter said.<\/p>\n
Forest Hill City Council member Anthony Cook said those trips left a lasting impression on himself and other students who might not have otherwise seen a path to college.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a major impact on my life because he was more like a mentor to me,\u201d Cook said. \u201cHe took a lot of us down to Texas Southern University, introduced us to college life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sims\u2019 presence went far beyond his role on the school board, Cook said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was hands-on \u2014 very hands-on,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was at O.D. Wyatt every day \u2026 talking to students, mentoring them, trying to keep us on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sims became something more than a public figure, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was like a second father to all of us,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n
Dionne Bagsby Jones, whose mother Dionne Bagsby was the first woman and first Black Tarrant County commissioner, said Sims\u2019 influence extended far beyond the classroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was the kind of person who made you feel seen,\u201d she said. \u201cNot just as a student or a parent, but as part of a community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones said Sims\u2019 legacy will be the relationships he built.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe showed up,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when someone shows up for you over and over again, that stays with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even on ordinary days, his focus rarely shifted from others.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis phone was always ringing,\u201d Shannon said. \u201cHe was always trying to help someone. He never met a stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Paw Paw\u2019<\/p>\n
To his granddaughters, he was simply \u201cPaw Paw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest man that I\u2019ve ever met in my life,\u201d granddaughter Carlynne Alfred said.<\/p>\n
As kids, they followed him everywhere \u2014 to school board meetings, football games, community events \u2014 learning, often without realizing it, how to move through the world the way he did.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t there just to sit and watch,\u201d Carlynne said. \u201cHe would tell us, \u2018Go speak to people. Tell them your name.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He pushed them toward leadership, even when it made them uncomfortable. Carlynne, for instance, was Arlington ISD\u2019s Martin High School senior class president.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do that without him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
He also instilled a deep pride in education \u2014 and, as a Texas Southern University alumnus, in historically Black colleges and universities. For granddaughter Dekhota Sipho, that meant following his path to Texas Southern University.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really motivated me. This is the school I want to be at,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to continue his legacy here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walking campus, she said, she could picture his life there \u2014 where he walked to class, where his dorm room was.<\/p>\n
Both Cara and Carlynne also said they knew early on where they needed to be. Cara is a junior at Prairie View A&M University, while Carlynne attends Howard University as a freshman.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was getting ready to go to college, I knew I was going to an HBCU,\u201d Carlynne said. \u201cThere was no doubt in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with everything he accomplished, he never changed, they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe helps everyone. And for him to still be so humble, that\u2019s all we ever saw,\u201d Cara said.<\/p>\n
At home, Sims\u2019 lessons were often delivered quietly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not as important what you do when the lights are on,\u201d Shannon said he would tell her. \u201cIt\u2019s more important the decisions you make when the lights are off and nobody\u2019s looking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faith was at the center of it all.<\/p>\n
Mornings often began with prayer, while family gatherings ended with it. And through the years, one phrase became a constant \u2014 a line from a spiritual hymn the family would often sing together<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t forget the family prayer,\u201d he would remind them \u2014 echoing the title of the song.<\/p>\n His wife, Nancy W. Sims, shared in that rhythm \u2014 a partnership built over 55 years on faith, family and service, she said. In his final days, she sat beside him, holding his hand, just as she had throughout their life together.<\/p>\n Each morning, Shannon would arrive at his hospital room and sing with him.<\/p>\n \u201cShannon, sing it again,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n They would sing. They would pray. They would sit together.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t forget the family prayer,\u201d they exalted.<\/p>\n Shannon certainly won\u2019t, she said.<\/p>\n A legacy carried forward\u00a0<\/p>\n Across Fort Worth, Sims\u2019 impact stretches far into classrooms, neighborhoods and lives shaped by his work.<\/p>\n But for his family, his legacy is measured differently. It\u2019s in the way they treat people. In the way they show up. How they lead.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to continue to live my life as the example that he set before us,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n For his grandkids, that means stepping forward in college, in leadership and in the paths they are building for themselves.<\/p>\n \u201cHe always told us to go after our dreams,\u201d Carlynne said. \u201cDon\u2019t let anybody stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in that hospital room, as the music played and the prayers continued, Shannon said goodbye the only way she knew how \u2014 through the words he had lived by: faith, love, gratitude.<\/p>\n And with the promise she whispered to him in his final moments:<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re going to have the biggest crown.\u201d<\/p>\n Editor\u2019s note: This story was updated April 6, 2026, to include T.A. Sims\u2019 surviving family members, add comments from granddaughter Dekhota Sipho and clarify that his granddaughters called him \u201cPaw Paw.\u201d<\/p>\n Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org<\/a>or @matthewsgroi1<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The soft beeping of hospital monitors filled the room, steady and unrelenting. Still, it couldn\u2019t drown out the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151],"class_list":{"0":"post-244188","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arlington","8":"tag-arlington","9":"tag-arlington-headlines","10":"tag-arlington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}