Obit of Garcia, Phyllis - Oklahoma County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Gene Phillips <okarchives@comcast.net>   18 Jun 2006
Return to Oklahoma County Archives:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html
==========================================================================
                             USGENWEB NOTICE
                     Copyright.  All rights reserved.
             http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
==========================================================================
::NOT LISTED

Garcia, Phyllis

Mrs. Phyllis Garcia, Devoted Teacher Phyllis Oneta Blankenburg Garcia, 
native Tulsan, (as a kid called Shorty - she was like a dime in a bunch of 
nickels - half as tall, but worth twice as much) a pinch of Cherokee, a 
Brave graduate of Tulsa Central High and University of Tulsa, passed on 
November 30th, 2002. Mrs. Garcia began her teaching career at home with 
her children, teaching them to read before they entered Kindergarten. 
Professionally, she started at The Betty Rombaugh Primary School, and 
taught Spanish, Speech, Drama, and English in 7th-9th grades in Tulsa 
Public Schools, Horace Mann and Orville Wright Jr. High. She worked 
indefatigably on the ESL program as team leader for the English Immersion 
Program. She was a member of the OEA, NEA, TCTA, OTFL and OKTESOL, and 
gave workshops in Adult Education ESL at colleges throughout the state. 
Harry Proffitt said, "I passed English, because Mrs. Garcia taught me, 
"Things are good, you do things well." Her love of communication, and 
interest in all nationalities, inspired her enthusiasm teaching English to 
international students at Spartan School of Aeronautics. Phyllis, and her 
husband of twenty-nine years, Julio Manuel Garcia, of Cuba, welcomed many 
to their friendly home, and helped numerous emigrees to adapt, and settle 
in Tulsa. "It was like growing up with Lucy and Ricky", laughed one son. 
After retiring in 1988, she was recruited as a representative for IBM's 
ESL project. Keeping a toehold in her beloved Oklahoma, she also lived and 
worked in Hawaii for 11 years. Phyllis led an active "retirement" working 
at the Waikiki Improvement Association; volunteering as a docent at the 
Iolani Royal Palace - sharing her "Aloha" spirit of service, helping 
visitors, new friends, in her adopted "Paradise". Her intense love of 
country, interest in history, people, and National Geographic sense of 
adventure made her an inveterate traveler exploring the United States, 
Great Britain, Europe, Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Egypt, the 
Mediterranean. Her travels were an extension of an her inward, spiritual 
journey that expressed her devotion to Christ as a lifelong Christian 
Scientist. She was a member of the Mother Church in Boston, an active 
branch church member at both Third Church and Sixth Church of Christ, 
Scientist, Tulsa, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Honolulu. She 
served as Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, Reading Room 
librarian, and was known as a get the-job-done Board member. Phyllis loved 
life, and lived love. She will be missed by many, especially by her 
children: Pilar Garcia Sussman of Brattleboro, Vermont; Douglas Garcia of 
Oklahoma City; Bradley Garcia of Tulsa; and her granddaughter Lauren 
Mercedes Garcia of Cincinnati. Private funeral arrangements were made; 
but, a springtime memorial service to celebrate her life will be held in 
Tulsa. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made "in her memory" to 
Creative Connections, an international cultural exchange program which 
connects classrooms in the United States, with classrooms in other 
countries through an exchange of art, music, or writing (412 Main Street, 
Ridgefield, CT 06877 www.creativeconnections.org)

Published in the Oklahoman on 2/16/2003.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to Oklahoma County Archives:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html