Charles Simmons shared love, light of High Point with the world

HIGH POINT — It was a party that he wouldn’t want to miss.

The family and friends of Charles Harriss Simmons gathered earlier this month at The Commons at Congdon Yards to celebrate the remarkable life of the Mayor of Main Street.

Born in High Point almost a century ago, Simmons was a champion of his hometown and the furniture market that it hosted throughout his lifetime. He watched the market grow into an international force during his career in furniture and fabric sales and later as he managed family-held furniture showrooms and other real estate interests.

He invested hard-earned dollars into the High Point Market as an owner of showroom buildings, and, perhaps more importantly, he invested his time and energy into the market as a tireless advocate for it.

I was among the dozens of furniture industry friends who attended the celebration of life event held for Simmons at The Commons. His children and grandchildren offered touching tributes to the man who was known as Seemore, a nickname he picked up in first grade after winning a seeing contest.

That turned out to be a prophetic nickname, as he was able to “see more” in High Point and the furniture industry than many of his colleagues. One thing that he always saw clearly was the power and the potential of the High Point Market.

“Throughout his life, Charles expressed an unyielding faith in the people of High Point and unbridled enthusiasm for the city as the hub of the home furnishings industry,” his obituary said. “As the unofficial Mayor of Main Street, he promoted his hometown at hundreds of furniture-related events.”

Well into his 90s, Simmons enjoyed giving guests a comprehensive driving tour of the High Point Market. “He knew all the secret places,” one of his friends recalled.

He also shared the good news about High Point with me on his front porch after we became neighbors in a quiet, well-manicured neighborhood on the outskirts of High Point. That’s where, a few months before his death last December, one of his many industry friends asked him what it was like to be 94 years old. Simmons paused, looked at his friend, and responded: “94.”

Charles Simmons put a lot into those 94 years.

A rich portrait of him emerged during the celebration of his life event.

He dressed to impress, and he impressed everyone he met with the twinkle in his eye, his constant questions and his engaging personality. He was interested in his life and in the people in it. And he was always interested in expanding his circle of friends. He had a unique handshake, pulling the person close to him, and he had a “thumbs up” approach to life. In those ways he built special friends, many of whom gathered at The Commons to share their own stories about him.

David Williams, a home furnishings veteran, was one of those friends. He recalled driving with Simmons to Chicago to attend the casual furniture market there, and he remembered the exhausting trips that Simmons took around the country and around the world, attending furniture shows near and far, and always talking up the importance of his beloved High Point Market.

If you want to be famous, Simmons liked to say on his travels, you need to have a showroom in High Point. He celebrated High Point as the center of the home furnishings universe.

I saw Simmons at the October 2024 market, where we both had lunch one day at the String and Splinter Club, which presented him with an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010. He was at home in that club and its cozy, sunny confines in Market Square. I chatted with him as he wrapped up his lunch that day. That was his last High Point Market.

Now the market crowds have returned to High Point as the spring market gets underway. Perhaps that celebration of life event at The Commons earlier this month should count as his attendance at the April market. We could call it a premarket event.

I thought about the many roads traveled by the Mayor of Main Street the other night when I walked down the road to his home in my neighborhood. His porch light was on, and I smiled as I saw it in the gathering darkness. I think he had a final message for me.

May we always be inspired by the light from High Point that Charles Harriss Simmons carried around the world.