DeLacy Ann Phinizy Brubaker Sarantos, 91, died peacefully on January 7, 2026 in Oak Park, Illinois. Born on October 24, 1934 in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) to Frank H. Phinizy and Ellen H. Trull, DeLacy lived an exceptional life full of inquiry, adventure, friends, theater, art, and globe spanning travel. DeLacy served as Executive Director of the Oasis Center for Human Potential from its inception in 1968 until its closing in 1997, where she introduced such influential thinkers as Alan Watts, Virginia Satir, Joseph Campbell, Jean Houston and countless others to a Chicago audience. DeLacy later served as foreign rights manager for Quest Books (Theosophical Society Publishing) and volunteered for decades at organizations that were important to her including as a docent for the Art Institute of Chicago, a tour guide at both the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and Pleasant Home, a sales associate at Ten Thousand Villages, and for innumerable causes helping the underserved and marginalized.
DeLacy was a lifelong dancer, studying and performing Spanish dance, Indian Dance (Bharatanatyam and Kathak) and Hula all well into into her 80s. She was also a lifelong learner, earning a BA from The College of Wooster, an MA in English from Columbia University, an MBA from Rosary College, and an Masters of Education from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church of Oak Park and the women's philanthropic educational organization, P.E.O. International.
DeLacy was in all respects a force of nature: elegant, eclectic, joyful, passionate, compassionate and deeply authentic, loving life with indomitable energy, openness of spirit and with a remarkable ability to laugh at herself. She was a deep listener appreciating all life had to offer until the very end. Above all else, DeLacy cherished and nurtured her roles as mother, grandmother, sister and friend.
She is survived by her children Kevin L. Brubaker (Debbie) and Raina E. Brubaker (Jessica Hough), grandchildren Lindsay, Liam, Ashton and Wesley, stepchildren Cricket Brookfield (Lance) and Kate Sarantos, sister Donna I. Phinizy and brother Frank H. Phinizy, Jr. She was predeceased by her husband Ted Sarantos.
DeLacy was a lifelong dancer, studying and performing Spanish dance, Indian Dance (Bharatanatyam and Kathak) and Hula all well into into her 80s. She was also a lifelong learner, earning a BA from The College of Wooster, an MA in English from Columbia University, an MBA from Rosary College, and an Masters of Education from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. She was a member of Grace Episcopal Church of Oak Park and the women's philanthropic educational organization, P.E.O. International.
DeLacy was in all respects a force of nature: elegant, eclectic, joyful, passionate, compassionate and deeply authentic, loving life with indomitable energy, openness of spirit and with a remarkable ability to laugh at herself. She was a deep listener appreciating all life had to offer until the very end. Above all else, DeLacy cherished and nurtured her roles as mother, grandmother, sister and friend.
She is survived by her children Kevin L. Brubaker (Debbie) and Raina E. Brubaker (Jessica Hough), grandchildren Lindsay, Liam, Ashton and Wesley, stepchildren Cricket Brookfield (Lance) and Kate Sarantos, sister Donna I. Phinizy and brother Frank H. Phinizy, Jr. She was predeceased by her husband Ted Sarantos.
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