Phyllis Faye Verma

Phyllis Faye Verma, 82, passed away April 29, 2025, at home in Washington DC. A longtime resident of Capitol Hill, Phyllis enjoyed cooking, music, art and painting, and loved spending time with family. Phyllis is survived by Alan C. Vaton, her husband of 41 years; her twin brother Phillip (Ray) Verma; her sons Anthony and Byron (Blake) Brocato; her much beloved granddaughters Alexandra, Kate and Milla; and her step-grandchildren Dane and Elle.
Phyllis passed peacefully with her son Blake on one side, and her husband Alan on the other.
Born in Lawton Oklahoma, Phyllis was predeceased by her mother, Freddie Jewel Nichols; father, Haqiqat Singh Verma; brother Ford Verma; sister, Paula Verma Hauser, and her eldest son, Phillip Brocato. Throughout her life Phyllis was always proud of her Indian heritage that came from her father. She looked back fondly on her earlier years living in Oklahoma and Louisiana,
Phyllis graduated with a BS in Mathematics from LSU, and then achieved an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She had a long and successful career in information technology.
After leaving Louisiana, Phyllis lived in Denver, Paris (France}, Vancouver, Toronto and London (UK) before returning to the US to take up residency in Washington, DC.
She loved the mountains of Colorado. She became an accomplished skier and skied in the US, Canada and Switzerland. She also enjoyed hiking which led her to undertake a trek to the base camp of Mount Everest. While in India she undertook to trace back her father's roots and family there.
She was an enthusiastic traveler and visited numerous countries in Europe, Africa, Central and South America, the Indian sub-continent and the Far East.
Phyllis established a beautiful, waterside, second family home in Southern Maryland on Mill Creek, where she enjoyed many happy times with family and friends.
Phyllis loved music, classical was her first love, but she also enjoyed rock music. She often reminisced to the songs of the Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, the Beatles and others.
Phyllis always greeted you with a smile and a laugh. She made life-long friends as she embraced life. Phyllis had wonderful long time friendships with Betsy, Duffy (deceased), Kathryn, Marie, Sally and others.
She loved walking around DC, and had a lifetime of stories from her adventures travelling throughout the globe, through her final trip to Morrocco. She loved to engage in lively conversation about any topic. She could chat with anyone, and they would leave smiling.
Phyllis was independent, creative and imaginative. She had great enthusiasm and energy for life that was infectious. She was a free spirit. And now that spirit is free to live on in the hearts of the family and friends she leaves behind.
A celebration of life will be planned later. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests to consider a donation in Phyllis' honor to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (https://PanCAN (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network).org/).
She Is Gone
(Poem by David Harkins)
You can shed tears that she is gone
Or you can smile because she has lived
You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back
Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left
Your heart can be empty because you can't see her
Or you can be full of the love you shared
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday
You can remember her and only that she is gone
Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
Or you can do what she would want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.