Katherine Neal Simmons

Simmons, a soprano,^[5][6] sang professionally, as a church soloist and as a touring concert singer.^[7][8][9] Her concerts often featured arias but also "tribal Indian songs", and she wore a costume^[10] of beads, a fringed shawl, braids, and a headband.^[11][12] She also sang Indian-themed compositions by Charles Wakefield Cadman, Thurlow Lieurance and others.^[13] She was active in the MacDowell Club of Portland, Oregon.^[3] She made a concert tour of cities in the eastern United States and Canada for the 1921–1922 season,^[14] and met with President Harding and his wife in the White House.^[15][16] She had a garden of 250 rose bushes, and was secretary of the Portland Rose Society.^[17][18]

By 1926 she had relocated from Portland to New York City,^[19][20] and was regional director of the National Delphian Society, a network of women's music clubs.^[21] She also taught voice lessons.^[22]

Neal married twice. Her first husband was lawyer John Curtis Simmons; they married in 1905 and he died by 1920.^[3][17] Her second husband was Joseph Kirk Love; he survived her when she died in 1940.^[23]