Rob Simmons ’61 has devoted his life to serving the public. Following military service, he spent time with the Central Intelligence Agency and as chief of staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He was then elected as a state representative and then a United States Congressman. Although a Republican by party designation, Simmons was never afraid to buck the party line in favor of what he felt was right, and he ties this idea back to lessons he learned from his time at Brooks. “[Founding headmaster] Frank Ashburn used to say, ‘keep your socks up,’” Simmons says. “We used to make fun of it — What does that mean? I think he was saying tend to your own business before you attend to somebody else’s business. Educate yourself before you start preaching to somebody else. Do the work yourself before you ask somebody else to work for you.”

Simmons says that Brooks gave him confidence and perseverance, which he carried into his college days. At Haverford College, Simmons became involved in the Civil Rights Movement and in the anti-war movement. By May of his senior year, Simmons was set to graduate Haverford and head off to work at his grandfather’s Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper in Medford, Oregon. “And that’s when I got drafted,” he says.

Simmons completed a tour of duty in Vietnam from spring 1967 to December 1968. He was in service during the Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks by the Viet Cong against the South Vietnamese army, the United States Army and their allies. Simmons received two bronze star medals but brushes off any accolades. “I haven’t read the citations in 20 years,” he says, “because the way I look at it, 58,229 young men and seven women died. In my opinion, the only heroes are those who came back in a body bag.”

In the course of his tour, Simmons came to believe that incorrect information on troop numbers and casualties was being shared with the Pentagon. He decided to join the CIA, which he felt “really had a handle on what was going on,” and spent two years running special operations in Vietnam and then three years in Taiwan running covert operations related to the Chinese-Taiwanese nuclear weapons program.

He then returned to the United States to receive his master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University. Simmons felt it was important to continue to support people who were still serving in the military. He applied to work on the staffs of every member of the United States Congress who served on the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees. Republican Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island offered him a summer internship that turned into a full-time position. Simmons then found himself taking a position as chief of staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee under Senator Barry Goldwater.

“These were incredible experiences,” he says. “I really learned how the government can work best, when you serve for the love of your country.”

Simmons returned to his hometown of Stonington in 1985 to teach at Yale University while working on his doctorate at the University of Connecticut. He was a member of Stonington’s Republican Town Committee, and won a special election for state representative. He was re-elected four more times, serving for 10 years.

He’s most proud, he says, of his work on the transportation committee and his work on the higher education subcommittee of appropriations, through which he facilitated investment in the state university system.

He then turned his attention to the United States Congress, and was elected following an election that was the closest race and the biggest upset of that election cycle. As a United States congressman, Simmons worked to save the New London, Connecticut, submarine base from realignment and closure, protecting 31,000 jobs and $2 billion of revenue for the state. He also chaired the Veterans Health Subcommittee, and says he fought for funding for veteran health care.

“I always worked with the people I could,” he says. “A nation that does not treat its veterans well will not find men and women to defend them in the future.” Following a failed bid for the United States Senate, Simmons returned to Stonington’s board of selectmen, and then served for four years as the chief executive officer of the town.

“And what do you do when everything’s going well?” Simmons continues. “You quit. You go to the farm.” The farm is Stone Acres Farm, which has been in Simmons’ wife’s family since 1765. Today, the property is a stunning wedding venue, a location for music events and pop-up dinners, a source of produce for local restaurants and a farmstand open to the public. It offers a CSA and uses sustainable agricultural practices.

“Our customers know that when the tomatoes come in, they’re fresh, that the corn was picked that day, and they know they’re supporting something good,” Simmons says. Simmons’ role at Stone Acres is as a volunteer. “I do the corn, the sunflowers and the squash,” he says. He enjoys the manual labor of working on the farm and claims it keeps him healthy. “I think there’s something almost spiritual about putting a seed in the ground and covering it up,” Simmons says. “And then hoping that it’s going to rain and then have some sunshine, and then having it grow, and then taking people in the field to cut the flowers and pick out the ones that they like. There’s something very clean and humbling about growing food in this day and age.”

On reflection, Simmons says that he’s been able to carve a path that he’s found satisfying. “After being drafted, I saw how an individual’s freedom can be taken away,” he says. “But I also saw how you can turn that event into a positive if you embrace it and carry it forward to the best of your ability. Public service is more about giving than getting, in my opinion. But I found that in giving of myself and in trying to do the right thing, more often than not, it worked out.”

Read more alumni stories in Brooks School's Bulletin magazine.