Life Story for Anna Phillips (Phillips) Anna L. Phillips, age 95, a resident of Spanish Cove Retirement Village in Yukon, OK, passed away Sunday, May 27, 2018 in Oklahoma City. Anna (“Ann”) was born May 14, 1923 in Skiatook, OK and has lived in Yukon since 2000 when she moved from Edmond. Ann comes from a family of educators.
Her mother, Alice, was a teacher, as were both of her sisters. Her father served on the local school board when the girls were growing up. Following graduation from Oklahoma A&M (now OSU) in 1943, Ann worked at the University in the Arts and Sciences office.
In 1949 Ann moved to Bogota, Colombia, where she taught English as a second language in elementary and high school, and she studied linguistics and Colombian literature through a fellowship at a teacher’s college. She later worked for the University of the Andes, which was just being formed. While in Colombia, she also worked for the Organization of American States in two Western Hemisphere congresses where she used her English, Spanish, Portuguese and French language skills.
She returned to the United States and worked as a secretary at Douglas Aircraft in Tulsa from 1951 until 1963. After receiving a master’s degree in Spanish from OU in 1967, she began teaching at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond and eventually became head of the Language Department. While teaching at UCO, she led many study trips to Central America, providing valuable experience for her students.
She remained close to many of those students through the years. Ann was a passionate educator and philanthropist who has been named to the OSU College of Education, Health & Aviation Hall of Fame. She participated in foreign language organizations throughout her career and served on special committees for the Governor of Oklahoma.
In 2008, Ann and her sister Lena Schenk honored their mother by establishing the Alice Phillips Endowed Professorship in Elementary Education. Three years later, she provided support for student scholarships through her estate. Because of her father’s work with school administrators as part of the school board, Ann understood the importance of strong educational leaders, and her experiences with traveling created a desire to support student teaching internships abroad.
Her generosity established the David Elroy Phillips Family Endowed Scholarship for students in educational administration, international student teaching and science education. Because of her love for OSU and her generosity, Ann made it possible for students to get a degree from OSU and impact thousands of lives through education. Though all of Ann’s immediate family has passed away, she is survived by many close friends, colleagues from her teaching career, and hundreds of students she has taught and whose lives she has touched and encouraged over the years.
Per Ann’s wishes, she will be buried in Tulsa beside her family in a private service. A public memorial service will be held Thursday, June 21, at 2:00 PM in the Spanish Cove Retirement Center Atrium in Yukon, OK. Services are under the direction of Smith & Turner Mortuary in Yukon, OK.
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