Accountant Used Her Skills to Help Others

She was comfortable learning math and working hard in all her school classes. Eventually her determination to learn and succeed in business helped her to overcome obstacles and earn enough to support her unpaid time, helping to improve the lives of others. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Hettie Simmons Love (HL) was born in Florida. Neither parent was a high school or college graduate. 

CHILDHOOD

HL grew up in segregated Jacksonville, Florida. 

EDUCATION

Earning “Senior Valedictorian” honors at her high school, HL was accepted for the next level of her education at Fisk University (a member of the HBCU – Historic Black Colleges and Universities). Math was her major college subject so her Bachelor’s degree was awarded in math. 

HL applied to the Master’s degree program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Why a school far north of her family home? Two reasons: Penn had – and still maintains – an excellent academic reputation for all its various undergraduate and graduate degree programs. But probably more important to HL, her mother had friends in Philadelphia who would look after HL. 

Upon acceptance at Penn, HL was the only Black student and one of only two women in the program at Wharton. 

CHALLENGE – NO ONE HERE LOOKS LIKE ME

HL was not deterred by being the only Black person and only one of two women in her graduate school because she was determined to learn as much about accounting and the business world as possible so that she would be successful when she landed her first adult job. 

Fortunately, a small group of fellow male students invited HL to routinely study with them. Coincidentally, she eventually married one of those men, which commenced their 66-year marriage.

FIRST CAREER IS NEVER A BINDING COMMITMENT

After earning her Master’s degree in accounting and business, HL became an accountant for several businesses before deciding that since she and her husband wanted to have children, she would retire from the working world for awhile to help raise their children and then find a more interesting – and to her more helpful to others – job in education. Thus, HL became a long-term substitute within many Philadelphia public schools. 

CAREER EARNINGS MAY SUPPORT VOLUNTEER PROJECTS

While contributing her teacher earnings to the family bank account, HL was able to use her math and accounting background to serve as a volunteer in several ways:

• Tutoring math students
• Church treasurer and leader
• Helped start a youth group: “Tots and Teens”
• Taught English in Turkey while her husband worked there.
• Helped form a chapter of the Links service organization.
• Served on the board of her local YWCA.
• Volunteered within the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (“RSVP”)

OFF-DUTY ACTIVITIES

HL was a two-time survivor of breast cancer. She liked to garden and read. She knew all the best words for Scrabble. 

Said her son, “We had a house full of books and a dictionary 6 inches thick. She always said, ‘Go look it up.’ With her, there were no shortcuts.”

Her daughter said, “She was sweet, but she told it like it was. She was constantly teaching in a loving way.”

CAREER SATISFACTION

The first Black female Dean at Wharton said that HL’s contribution to “women and minority professionals…. was far greater than anything measured by a corporate balance sheet or a resume.”

In February 2023, HL was recognized by U.S. Senator Bob Casey for her “deep commitment to service” during a Black History Month celebration. She received a standing ovation at the event and said, “I don’t really understand how anybody cannot be an activist in this time and age. We all have an opportunity to be who we want to be, to encourage our children to be what they want to be, and to provide for them so they can become the people they want to be.”

HL was also celebrated by Penn and the NAACP, winning many awards, including a Trailblazer Award from the local chapter of the National Black MBA Association and a Black Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Literacy Corporation. 

A group of grade school students published a book about her life, Hettie Simmons Love: Penn Pioneer. Two educational scholarships have been established in her honor. 

__________________________________________________________________________

This career story is based on an obituary written by Gary Miles, published by the Philadelphia Inquirer on July 26, 2023.