Patsy Phillips

PATSY PHILLIPS
December 19, 1935 ˜ May 27, 2021

Patsy was born Dec. 19, 1935, in Sayre, OK, to a teenage mother, Jewell Walkup Greeson. She lived the first part of her life in a home with a dirt floor, which she remembered her treasured grandmother carefully sweeping. Her mother married William Sumrall, and had two more daughters: Billie Dean and Phyllis. The family moved across the country, eventually settling in Portland where her father worked in the shipyards. Her sister Robin was born in Washington in 1957. Patsy graduated from Vancouver High School in 1954 and attended Pacific University on a journalism scholarship. Patsy married Robert M. Phillips, Jr., in 1955 and was a teacher in Portland and Los Angeles before venturing to Zambia, where she continued to teach and where her daughter Karen was born. She settled in Sacramento, where her daughter Maika was born. She had a full career teaching history at Cordova High School prior to retiring to Portland.
Patsy loved to laugh, read, and hike in the Gorge. She was a docent at the Portland Art Museum, hiked with the Mazamas, and passionately worked on several political campaigns. Above all, she loved spending time with her grandchildren, Will and Ella Yeigh and John and James Jealous. She was always up to bake cookies, play a game, or go for a puddle splash. She passed away May 27, and is survived by her sisters, Billie Dean Mihaloew and Robin Thompson; her daughters, Karen and Maika; her son-in-law, Ted; her four grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews. Her daughters have always been inspired by her resiliency and warm spirit, as well as what she accomplished in her lifetime.
Please share a memory @ www.columbian.com/obits