Phyllis Wilson

Phyllis Wilson--formerly Phyllis Virginia Richardson--died November 6, 2007 in Ilwaco, WA, at the age of 82, after suffering for several years with Alzheimer's disease. She had been a local resident the past 6 years. A longtime resident of Arlington, VA, she is survived by her four children Kathleen, Leigh, Margaret and Charles Wilson and her three grandchildren Lily and Nick Wilson-Codega and Richard Dumitru Spillane. She is pre-deceased by her husband Orville L. Wilson on November 12, 1988. Born September 10, 1925 in Washington, D.C., Phyllis studied at George Washington University and Peabody Conservatory. In 1951 she joined the U.S. Foreign Service, where she met her husband, Orville, who was also working for the U.S. State Department in Hamburg, Germany. They were married in Bern, Switzerland in 1953. After leaving the State Department, she settled with her family in Arizona for several years and spent most of the last 35 years in Arlington, Virginia. She worked for the Church of the Epiphany and later for AARP in Washington, D.C. before her retirement in 1988. An accomplished lyric soprano, Phyllis was a soloist and choir member of the Episcopal Cathedral in Bonn, Bogota, Santo Domingo, and Port-au-Prince, as well as the Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona, and the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C. While in Bogota, she also performed the leading soprano role in The Mikado. Phyllis had a passion as well for films, writing and great literature, and was especially fond of A.E. Housman and Albert Camus. She also dearly loved her Episcopal parish--the Church of the Epiphany in Washington, D.C.--which was her church home for over sixty years, and where her memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday December 1. Cremation arrangements are by Penttila's Chapel by The Sea and the guestbook may be signed at www.penttilaschapel.com.