Wiley Klein Sims was born on this day in 1898, in Alabama, to Wiley Cunningham and Mattie Victoria Irvin Sims.
He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and taught school for two years before he became a weatherman in Nashville, Tennessee.
He worked at weather bureaus in Atlanta, and at Greensboro/High Point, then he came to Winston-Salem in 1944. For the next nineteen years, Wiley Sims was “the weatherman.” He was in charge of the U. S. Weather Bureau at Smith Reynolds Airport.
Wiley said that his interest in predicting weather began when he was just a small boy. When he became a meteorologist, anyone with an interest in outside activities always checked with Wiley’s forecast before making plans. Farmers particularly valued his predictions, and enjoyed the wit and wisdom that accompanied the forecasts.
Wiley said “I like to put some personal friendliness in statistics,” and his fan mail attested to his popularity.
Wiley was married to Mary Catherine Harris.
He retired in 1963, after working 35 years as a weather forecaster. He passed away in 1965.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
