Mary Sims
Mary Sims is a radical lesbian artist; and a lover of life and peace. She is the mother of three, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. She was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, in 1944, the oldest of eight children. Mary’s grandparents had roots in South Carolina. Her father was an educated man who lived in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; her mother lived to Miami, Florida. When she was a child, they went back and forth between the two cities. In 1953 at 9 years old, she flew to Miami on an airplane. Mary spent most of her summers in Miami.
When Mary Sims graduated from high school in 1962, she moved to Miami, to live with her mother. She won a partial scholarship through the Institute of Art in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, but she never pursued it. She studied art and graphic design at Miami-Dade Community College in Florida, and she got her first job at Zenith Communication as a printer, where she ran the printing press. While she was coming out as a lesbian, she was a member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Lesbian Task Force.
In 1978, Mary Sims took her daughter to the Michigan Women’s Music Festival (many others after that). Later, Mary took her granddaughter. She was always schooling her kids in feminism. Mary is semi-retired. She enjoys getting together with womyn, attending the Woman Power Wednesdays in Miami, camping with Campazons, and attending the Miami Jewish center, Lamba Living, for LGBTQ+ and seniors.
Mary Sims considers herself a strong Dyke with a magical life.