Goldie Scott Simpson

Goldie Virginia Scott was born in Detroit, MI and was the youngest of five children. She proudly graduated from Northeastern High School in 1941. She was one of only a few African-American students at Northeastern at the time, and she blazed a path of academic excellence with a particular love for Latin.

Soon after her graduation, America entered World War II, and Goldie took a job at Briggs Manufacturing in Detroit as a Rosie the Riveter to help her country win the war.

Goldie’s parents, Bertha and Solomon, were community leaders who frequently opened their home to family, neighbors, friends, and those in the process of relocation and needing temporary shelter. It was one such young man, relocating from Indiana, who caught Goldie’s eye and she and Elmore Simpson were married. They raised nine children together and walked side by side, faithfully with the Lord, until Elmore passed on in 2001.

Known in her later years as Mother Simpson at the Clinton Street Greater Bethlehem Temple Church, Goldie Scott Simpson served her community in many ways. Goldie and Elmore’s home on Leland St. in Detroit became, like her parents’ before her, a neighborhood hub where all were welcome.

Goldie Simpson touched many with her love and kindness, and passed away, surrounded by family, in May of 2024 at the age of 101.