When Bronx woman Cheree Evans entered the Williamsbridge Center nursing facility in November, she had only a vague memory and a desperate hope that her uncle, Freddy Simmons — a man she calls her father figure — would be there.
Until November, Evans had only seen her uncle once in the past 13 years. That sole interaction was during a short visit at Williamsbridge Center just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic closed nursing facilities across the country.
As she entered the nursing home, propelled by a hazy memory of that last visit, all Evans could hope was that Simmons hadn’t died or been moved elsewhere.
But sure enough, Simmons was waiting.
“To see him sitting in that chair, I had to give him a hug,” Evans said about their reunion. “I had to kiss him. I truly missed him.”
Frederick “Freddy” Simmons, 66, grew up as one of eight children in Harlem. Evans says that he had a difficult childhood and early life, having dropped out of school at a young age, but that he always cared for her and taught her how to stick up for herself.
“My uncle was there for me my whole life,” Evans said.
Eventually, Evan says, things seemed to be turning around for Simmons. He was working on his health and learning to drive. Evans said it was supposed to be his second shot in life.
But in 2007, Simmons was struck by a 2 train in an accident that resulted in the loss of both legs and a hand. The trauma of the accident caused his mental stability to deteriorate faster than expected. Evans cared for her uncle for some time, but with the stress of working two jobs, she hired a caretaker for Simmons around 2010.
In 2011, a jury awarded Simmons $6 million, saying the train operator didn’t break quickly enough. With the award money, Simmons no longer qualified for his housing and had to find a new place to live. According to Evans, his caretaker at the time took the $6 million, distributed it within their own family and eventually put Simmons in a nursing home. Once there, it seemed to Evans that her uncle had disappeared without a trace.
Nine years passed with Evans left to wonder about his whereabouts.
She saw her uncle briefly in February 2020, just a few days after the death of her grandmother — Simmons’ mother. A relative found Simmons’ location at Williamsbridge Center and a few members of their family went to see him. By then, he had lost much of his memory to dementia.
Shortly after, the quarantines of the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to get to him, and as the years drew on, Evans — who says the memories around her grandmother’s death were fuzzy with grief — could no longer remember where Simmons had been residing.
But as Evans was driving one day this past November, her 11-year-old son in the backseat, she passed a building that looked familiar. She says the memory of visiting Simmons in 2020 struck her. She told her son that she would be right back, but that she was going inside to check for Simmons.
Nervously, she rang the buzzer and asked for her uncle, saying she had a feeling that he was there.
“The whole time as I’m trying to find where he’s at, I’m thinking, ‘Please don’t let this man be dead,’” Evans said. “I knew he didn’t have anyone, because no one even knew where he was.”
Simmons had been in the care of the 77-bed Williamsbridge Center since 2015. The recreation director, Monique Sampson, calls him “quite the ladies’ man” and says his favorite activities offered at the nursing home are coffee socials and the cooking club. In her time at Williamsbridge Center, Sampson had not seen family come in to see Freddy Simmons.
Now, Cheree Evans — Simmons’ niece — was coming through the front door, asking to see her uncle.
“When she said Freddy Simmons, that blew my mind,” Sampson said. “Since the time I’ve been here, I haven’t seen anyone visiting him. He had tears that were coming down. He was so happy.”
Williamsbridge staff led Evans to her uncle and the pair were finally reunited after years apart.
“When I saw him, my face just dropped. I couldn’t believe how good he looked,” Evans said. “He looked so well taken care of. He looked so happy. I’ve never seen someone who has been through so much and then looks so good.”
After greeting him and embracing him, Evans ran back outside to bring food for Simmons and introduce him to her son. She sang with her uncle, fed him and talked with him. Both Evans and Sampson say that, over the course of the conversation, he remembered his niece more and more.
Simmons will remain in Williamsbridge Center to continue receiving the day-to-day care he needs, but Evans plans to continue visiting him — “being his home” even if he can’t return to live with her.
“Now that I’ve found out where my uncle is, the only thing I can do is make the rest of his years meaningful to him,” Evans says. “I’m going to love up on my uncle. I’m just so glad I found him.”
For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
