Phyllis Irene Clausen

1924 - 2023

Phyllis Irene Clausen

April 8, 1924 - November 15, 2023

Lacey, Washington - Phyllis Irene Clausen, a staunch advocate for environmental and social justice causes, died on November 15, 2023 at the Panorama retirement community in Lacey, Washington. Born on April 8, 1924 in St. Paul, Minnesota, she was the third of four children belonging to Donald P. Shannon and Edna Shannon. Phyllis studied at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in home economics. Having fallen in love with the Pacific Northwest during a college break visit, she never regretted moving out to the coast with her husband Victor, who began his career in the timber industry.

A fulltime mother in early adulthood, Phyllis later earned a master's degree and taught English as a second language in Seattle. Following a move to Vancouver, she became an active environmentalist, serving on a statewide commission that studied the advisability of locating a repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste in eastern Washington. She strongly opposed this plan, which was ultimately defeated. She and Victor built a log house near the Klickitat County town of Trout Lake to serve as their home in retirement. As president of the organization Friends of the White Salmon River, she successfully campaigned to obtain Wild and Scenic protection for a portion of the upper river. In 2011, following a multi-decade effort, she happily witnessed the removal of Condit Dam, a small hydroelectric facility that had blocked fish passage since its completion in 1913.

A Unitarian Universalist throughout her adult life, Phyllis cultivated fulfilling relationships in broad networks of others sharing her activist bent. Following her beloved husband's death, she formed new connections in her retirement community at Lacey's Panorama, even as she held her three children close. She is survived by these daughters (Jan Clausen, Debra Clausen, and Sidney Clausen) in addition to a grandson, Kern Rexius, and a great-granddaughter, Reese Rexius.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Church at 2 p.m. on June 7, 2024. Memorial donations may be sent to Friends of the Columbia Gorge or Friends of the White Salmon River.