Phyllis Phillips Hower

Phyllis Phillips Hower Phyllis Hower died on September 25th in Seattle, Wash., surrounded by her family. Phyllis died after her four month push to build lung capacity following heart surgery. In typical Phyllis fashion, she died as she had lived, with clarity and determination. Phyllis was 83. Phyllis is survived in Seattle by her son Mark Hower, daughter-in-law Kelly, granddaughter Roslyn and by her niece Lewjean Holmes. She is survived in Portland by her son Phillip Hower and daughter-in-law Debbie. She is survived in Texas by her niece Michael Lynn James, and in Idaho by many beloved friends and family members. Phyllis was born in Oklahoma in 1924, and her family moved soon after to Texas. Phyllis liked to quote fellow Texan Nancy Griffith, saying, "No one wants to live too close to Oklahoma." As a four year old, Phyllis insisted that she be taken to school at the little school on the oil lease land where her father worked, accompanying her older sister. At school, she did her own little writing on a slate, not quite standard dictionary English at that point. She was all about learning from birth, and it wasn't just about book learning. At seven, Phyllis climbed an oil derrick with her little brother, Billy age five, making her way up the 55 foot tower with Billy in front of her "so I could catch him if he fell." Once up there, they lay on their stomachs and surveyed the big world, waiting till their parents stopped calling and looking around the house to sneak back down again. Not surprisingly, given Phyllis's yen for adventure, she was discovered by a talent scout from the San Francisco Ballet just before her 12th birthday and went to live in San Francisco and dance in the company for the next eight years. Phyllis danced in the Corps de Ballet for the 1940 North American premiere of "Swan Lake." She was injured shortly thereafter and went home to Texas to try college. Her folks chose to withdraw her soon into that venture over her determination to drink out of "colored" water fountains and join a Jewish sorority (despite her strong Jewish identification, Phyllis was raised Methodist until joining the Unitarian Church as an adult). Seeking her own money and independence, Phyllis went to work for Shell Oil, significant in her life for the fact that it was there she met her beloved husband Ward. Phyllis and Ward were married in 1955 and went to work for Frank Church's first Senatorial campaign a year after that. When Church won his U.S. Senate seat, Phyllis because his Legislative Secretary and Ward his Chief Legislative Aide and speechwriter. This was part of life-long love affair with Democratic politics and a long, warm friendship with Frank, his wife Bethine and their two sons Forrest and Chase. Phyllis's work for Senator Church included traveling south to join other civil rights activists in the march to Selma, one of Phyllis's most treasured "glad I was there" experiences. Phyllis and Ward adopted their infant sons Phillip in 1958 and Mark in 1960, and she told everyone she met that this choice to be a mother, along with the birth of her granddaughter Roslyn (Rosie), was the best thing that ever happened to her - in a long life that included being a professional ballerina, working for a U.S. Senator, and two stints in the Peace Corps! Phyllis's first Peace Corps tour was as the mother of her small sons to Brazil and Guiana, where Ward was a Peace Corps Director. Her second tour, upon her completion of a Political Science degree at Evergreen State College at age 64, was with Ward to work as a volunteer in an orphanage in Ecuador. Phyllis and Ward raised their boys in the beautiful little mountain town of Cascade, Idaho where Ward practiced law and served as Mayor, while Phyllis worked on everything from the PTA to the newspaper. After Ward's retirement, they moved to Boise, Idaho where the formed some of their lives' closest friendship with members of the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, where both Phyllis and Ward served on the church Board. Phyllis led a life of energy and purpose on her own, both before and after Ward's death in 2001, but she always had time to visit and support her children - including making it to every birthday celebration of her granddaughter Rosie, even in Tonga of the South Pacific one year. It was the great joy of her family that she moved to Seattle, close to both of her children, for the last year and a half of her life. Phyllis loved being more "day to day" in the lives of her family, and she very much enjoyed her newly discovered kindred spirits at the Viewpointe retirement home on Queen Anne where she lived. Everyone she met was someone Phyllis wanted to know about, and the world felt the same about her. In a celebration of Phyllis's life at the Viewpointe on October 11, it was moving to hear common themes about Phyllis's character and way of walking through life, from people who'd known her 50 years and more to people who'd known her in the last year. As her friend Charley, manager at Viewpointe said, "We started talking as soon as I picked her up at her residence in Bellevue, and by the time we got to the 520 Bridge I knew I was in the presence of greatness." On November 1, the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship - a congregation that loved her dearly - held a private memorial for Phyllis. On March 29, 2009, the congregation will host a community celebration of her life, in collaboration with her family.