Another Photo

Please feel free to leave stories and memories of Mom by clicking on the link 'Phyllis Haase -- In Memorium' under 'Previous Posts' to the right.

Phyllis Haase -- In Memorium

Phyllis Haase -- December 3, 1923 - February 28, 2009



Please feel free to leave a remembrance of Mom by scrolling to the end of the page and posting a 'Comment'.

The following video of Mom's Memorial service, held March 21st, 2009 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos, is approximately 40 minutes long. I've been having difficulty uploaded the entire DVD, so will post an update here if I'm successful in adding back in the deleted parts. It starts with a blue screen and the volume is a bit low, but still audible in a quiet room. Please click on the > symbol inside the video screen to start it, and click on the rectangle with the upward/right arrow symbol below the screen to enlarge the video full-size.

Mom's Memorial

Newspaper Obituary

Phyllis C. Haase, 85, of Stroudsburg, PA died Saturday, February 28, 2009 in Pocono Medical Center. Born in Washington, D.C., Phyllis was the daughter of the late George and Claire (Pratt) Warner and sister to the late Douglas and Daniel Warner. Phyllis began a radio career at age 6, playing a variety of children's parts, and became known as 'The Girl with a Hundred Curls'. She began co-hosting her own radio celebrity-interview program at age 12 for the 'Washington Post'. When a scheduled interview with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was canceled, Mrs. Roosevelt invited Phyllis and her mother to tea at the White House as compensation (see more at: http://phiggy.blogspot.com). Entering college at age 16, she put her education on hold shortly thereafter when she married the late Joseph Pritchard and gave birth to sons Douglas (who died at age 20 while serving in the Navy), Bruce and Albert. She continued her career in the Arts as a director of children's theater and subsequently taught drama, speech, English and creative writing in both private and public schools during the coming decades. Her second marriage to the late Alan Haase brought the birth of her fourth son, Norman. Returning to college in her 40's and 50's, Phyllis earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees as well as being ABD (all but dissertation) for a Doctorate in Education. Organizations she contributed to with her time and energy, the hundreds of close friends made during her lifetime, and the warm embrace of her extensive family were her most cherished possessions. Survivors: She is survived by her sons Bruce Pritchard (his late wife Joyce) of Bainbridge Island, WA; Albert Pritchard and his wife Sharon of Stroudsburg, PA; Norman Haase and his wife Teresa of Allentown, PA; grandchildren Winter, Meadow, Courtney, Arlen, Allison, Allana and Sarah; and eight great-grandchildren (the last scheduled to arrive in April). Services: A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 21st at 1:00 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the Poconos, 940A Ann Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360. Light refreshments will be served and all are welcome to speak and share memories of Phyllis. The family wishes that contributions, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Fellowship directly, at 570-420-0580. Directions to the Fellowship are online at http://www.uupoconos.org/. Written remembrances of Phyllis are encouraged at http://phiggy.blogspot.com/2009/03/moms-passing.html. (this page)

I don't know if Mom ever heard this song, 'Fields of Gold' by Eva Cassidy, but it speaks to me of her. You might want to leave it playing as your scroll through the site.






Dear, Dear Phyllis:

So you have moved on to God's wider purposes for your wondrous life.

Such a lover of books we have rarely known. We can see them, still,
Phyllis, all over the E.Orange basement (never mind the Fire
Department...) and in your Stroudsburg hideaway, just a fraction of your
beloved across-the-decades library. Others of course took the point and
found themselves drawn to the wisdom and learnings of the ages because
of the song--literature--in your life. Anyway, here's a page from
Sandburg, and it is y o u , dear one:

The strong ones keep coming on.
They go down shot, hanged, sick, broken.
They live on fighting, singing, lucky as plungers.

Call hallelujah, call amen,
call deep thanks.
The strong ones keep coming on.

Yes, you do, Phyllis. Remember a Peace Laureate's saying, "We don't
know for sure whether words save lives, but we know for sure that
silence kills."? Your life breaks the silence. Whether at the Board of
Education, or on your bumper stickers, or among your friends and family,
you live on, "fighting, singing" even when times of infirmity come upon you.

CALL DEEP THANKS. You know, with Aquinas, that some have no anger
because they have no care for justice. How deep you drink of the well
that flows for love and justice.

Your calling forth the best from kids whom society counts least and puts
last: Some justice, good sister!

Your rejoicing in public life that widens embrace, resists exclusion:
O Phyllis, more justice!

Dare you to try to get this on your bumper sticker, but never mind,
here's you: We shall not rest until "decent citizens" and those strange
intruders who muddle the purity of our cultural spaces have extended
their arms to each other in joyful embrace... (Miroslav Volf)

It is sufficient, please God, that your students and grandchildren rise
up across the decades to CALL DEEP THANKS that you, dear friend, passed
their way to stand up to exclusionary "purity".

And now, soul sister to, who else?--Alice Walker, whose poetry you love,
this again is for you, and your loved ones can listen in--

While love is unfashionable
let us live
unfashionably...
Let us be poor
in all but truth and courage...
While love is dangerous
let us walk bareheaded
beside the Great River.
Let us gather blossoms
under fire.

Dear heart, with all your truth and courage, now go, go,
walk beside the Great River.



Maria and Frank Gibson


Here's Mom, a bit over a year ago, always trying to learn new things


These photo groupings were sent to me by Bruce

Top row L-R: Mom & Bruce (we think!)
Mom, Doug, Albert, Bruce (Whiteside Rd. in Sandston VA)
Alan, Beatrice (Nana), Claire (Baba), Kurt (Pop Pop), Phyllis...Bruce, Doug, Albert (Hillier Street, East Orange, NJ)

Bottom row: Winter, Grandma in England
Mom graduating Bloomfield College (1967), Kurt on couch
Albert, Mom, Norman, Bruce


Top row L-R: Norman, George (Grossfather), Claire (Baba)...Albert, Doug, Bruce, Mom
Meadow, Grandma
Uncle Doug, Karin, Phyllis, Alan

Bottom row: Mom, pregnant with Norman
Kurt, Claire, Alan, Phyllis, Beatrice, George...Bruce, Albert, Doug (I missed this wedding)
Mom's baby picture...we think!

One of Mom's favorites. She named her two birds Luci, after Pavarotti. I love this early version of Nessun Dorma.



"Dear Norman and Teresa,



Your mother did indeed make a difference in many lives, including my own. I have many wonderful memories of the times we shared. She often said we were more like sisters than in-laws. Phyllis gave so generously of her time, talents and love to so many people and I feel blessed to have been one of them. She had a way of inspiring and affirming creativity in many realms, piquing intellectual thought and curiosity, deepening spiritual awareness and relating to people in all walks of life -- along with living life fully and having fun. I now envision her doing all of that with some dramatic monologues thrown in, in more celestial realms." Karin Warner