Phyllis Hodgson

Phyllis Ann Hodgson, the first-born child of Albert Henderson Pettyjohn and Alzada Gertrude (Glaze) Pettyjohn, was born October 29, 1925, in Chanute, Kansas. She died Thursday, March 10, 2011, at the University Of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas. She had two brothers, who survive: Philip K. Pettyjohn and wife, Ruth of Houston, Texas and James D. Pettyjohn and wife, Alice of Raleigh, North Carolina. She is also survived by three sisters-in-law and several cousins. She also leaves the dear family of her son-in-law Robert Hoke, his wife Vicki of Lyndon, Kansas, and their children, Anthony and wife, Carly of Long Beach, California and Andrea Hoke of Lyndon, Kansas. On December 26, 1948, she married Henry Albert Hodgson of Kincaid. He died in 1985. Her father died in 1966 and her mother in 1982. Henry and Phyllis had two daughters, Ann Elizabeth and Susan Kay. Ann and her husband,Robert Hoke, had one daughter, Machelle Ann. Susan and her husband, Daniel Vest, had one son, Daniel Mark Jr. The two daughters and their children all lost their lives in a 1974 tornado which struck Emporia, Kansas. For most of her life Phyllis was an active member of the United Methodist Churches in Kincaid, Lone Elm, and Colony. For most of those years she played the piano or organ for church services. For more than 50 years she was a member of the Tuesday Study Club of Kincaid, an affiliate of the General Federation of Women's Clubs of Kansas. For seven years Phyllis was a Midland Hospice volunteer. She received the outstanding volunteer service award for Anderson County in 1994. She served as a guide in the Allen County Historical Museum and was an active member of Friends of the Iola Library and of Allen County Area Retired School Personnel. She was a Bible study coordinator for Stonecroft Ministries and active in Christian Women's Club. Phyllis was a graduate of Toronto High School and Pittsburg State University, where she earned BS and MS degrees. She taught English and speech and directed many plays in her 37-year teaching career. She taught at Kincaid Rural High School, Colony High School, Blue Mound High School, and Jayhawk Linn High School in Mound City. She also substituted one semester at LaHarpe High School. She loved her students, her teaching, her family, and her community, and demonstrated it throughout a life of service. FUNERAL SERVICE: 2:00 p.m., Monday, March 14, 2011, at the First Presbyterian Church in Iola, Kansas. The Rev. Jim Rausch will officiate. VISITATION: The family will receive friends at the church an hour prior to the service. MEMORIAL CHOICES: First Presbyterian Church or Iola Public Library Memorial gifts may be left with the Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Memorial Chapel of Iola, which is in charge of arrangements. Online condolences for the family may be left on this website, www.iolafuneral.com .