Obituary of Phyllis Ann Johnson

None Phyllis Ann Johnson After bravely fighting multiple myeloma for three years, Phyllis Ann Johnson died peacefully at home, surrounded by her loving family, on Sunday, June 10, 2012. Phyllis was born on October 30, 1933 in Hamden, Connecticut to Dominic and Lucy Izzo Pascarelli. Phyllis was the first of six sisters, followed by Madalyn, Lucille, Alice, June and Rose. Phyllis married Howard E. Johnson on November 27, 1954 and began the adventures of being a military wife. Phyllis had two children, LuAnn and David, and raised her family all over the world. In 1968, Phyllis and Howard retired from the military and settled in Olympia, Washington, in Thompson Place. Phyllis was the epitome of a woman who successfully combined marriage and family with a career, many years before it was easy or common. She worked in Human Resources at St. Peter’s Hospital for many years, holding positions in volunteer program administration, benefits management, and recruiting and systems operations throughout her long career. When she retired from St. Peter’s, she became a tireless volunteer for the Olympia View Elementary School where she tutored students and assisted in many classrooms. She was honored as Volunteer of the Year many times and enjoyed the change from managing adults to kids. Phyllis had many and varied interests. She loved to travel and enjoyed a 50th wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii with her children and grandchildren: Jason and Trisha Holt (LuAnn) and Trevor, Jordan, Cassidy and Dylan Johnson (David). She loved warm weather and enjoyed spending time on the Washington coastal beaches as well as Palm Springs, Florida and Arizona. Phyllis was creative and artistic and enjoyed creating quilts, needlepoint, sewing and scrapbooking. She created six very different wedding quilts for each of her six grandchildren, which will be presented to each of them when they marry. She spent many hours over the last year creating baby quilts for her newly arrived (and soon to arrive great grandchildren). One of the family legends involves an afghan that she knitted many years ago and was dubbed The Magic Blanket. Legend has it that nobody is immune to its soporific powers and anyone who covers themselves with it falls fast asleep. Her kids and grandkids all enjoyed receiving a version of The Magic Blanket as they went away to college or moved into their own homes. She also loved to read and watch movies, particularly mysteries. She generally solved the mystery within the first 50 pages but always read to the end of the book anyway. She loved solving puzzles and was an avid Jeopardy fan – anything to exercise her formidable brain. She was a member of St. Michael’s church and loved attending mass where her granddaughter Cassidy sang in the choir. She was a great cook and got lots of inspiration from the Food Network. Nobody made great Italian food like Phyllis and she always enjoyed getting the family together for a feast of wedding soup, stuffed shells or sausage and peppers. Every Thanksgiving she began a process that family and friends greatly looked forward to – the annual Christmas cookie baking. Phyllis was a creative and talented baker and made hundreds of dozens of cookies each year. It was a pleasure to be on her cookie list and friends, family, coworkers, neighbors and even the mailman loved to get their cookie box and see what new ingredients she had incorporated each year. She taught each of her grandchildren to knit, quilt, cook and bake – but nobody did it as well as Phyllis AKA The Cookie Queen. Phyllis was diagnosed with multiple myeloma nearly three years ago and vowed that she would beat the disease. She fought valiantly with the help of Dr. Xingwei Sui and his team. For much of that time, she did very well and nobody attending her grandson Jason’s wedding last April would suspect that the lady on the dance floor twisting madly with her sisters was anything but hearty and hale. When the disease began to progress last fall, she approached her last years as she had all the previous years – with courage, loving concern for her family and a daunting To Do list. Phyllis believed in quality of life and the right to die with dignity. As she approached the end of her life, the support and assistance of her husband and family, along with Dr. Sui and his team and the wonderful people at Providence Hospice allowed her to make that choice. Phyllis is survived by her devoted husband Howard who was by her side during her life and her death. He was tireless in helping her fight when she could and to stop fighting when she needed to. She is also survived by her five sisters; Madalyn Lent and Alice Parisi of Florida and Rose Esposito, June Gallo and Lucille Christina of Connecticut. She is survived by her daughter LuAnn Johnson of Seattle and LuAnn’s children Jason Holt of Arlington, VA and Trisha Holt of Detroit Michigan. She is also survived by her son David Johnson of Olympia and David’s children Trevor Johnson, Jordan Johnson, Cassidy Johnson and Dylan Johnson of Olympia and two great-grandchildren: Branden (Trevor) and Landon Lindstrom (Jordan). There will be no public funeral; there will be a private ceremony for the family later this summer at the beach where Phyllis loved to spend time. The family is thankful for the support, prayers and thoughts of all who knew and loved Phyllis. In her memory the family would appreciate a donation to The American Cancer Society or Providence Hospice. 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