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Visitation:
9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 15 at Trinity
Episcopal Church, Lincoln
Service:
10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church
Funeral home: Quiram Peasley Funeral Home,
Atlanta
Obituary
Elizabeth Josephine Larison Phillips
was born in Toulon, Illinois, on December 2, 1917,
to Harry and Lillian Larison. She was the youngest
of their six children, and from the beginning was
known as Betty Jo. When Betty Jo was five, the
family moved to Lincoln where she spent her
growing-up years.
Throughout her life, Betty Jo had a love for theater
and music and a deep spiritual grounding. When she
was a child, one of her sisters began taking her to
Trinity Episcopal Church, starting a life-long
connection. She gave her first theatrical
performance in a church when she was three years
old, reciting the poem “Little Orphan Annie.” She
acted in plays throughout grade school and at
Lincoln High School, where she made history as the
first female ever to receive a high school letter,
recognizing her achievements in dramatic arts and
music.
Betty graduated from Lincoln College in 1937 and
shortly afterward married Thomas Lenon Phillips. Tom
was from a large Texas family that Betty joined with
enthusiasm. He was an activist for civil rights; and
along with him, Betty became a member of the NAACP
and together they helped the less fortunate.
In the first years of her marriage, while raising
her first two children, Betty became part of the
Peoria Players theater group and starred in plays in
which her performances were acclaimed—including one
that was especially important to her, the role of a
nun in “The Joyous Season.” Her success on stage led
Betty to consider a serious acting career. But
professional acting gave Betty spiritual
reservations, and instead of going to Hollywood, she
decided to give up acting in favor of family life,
with no regrets. She went on to have four more
children.
In 1966, Betty suffered the first of two great
losses. In his senior year of high school, her son
John was killed in an automobile struck by a train.
The next year, her husband Tom died of heart
failure. The love and support of relatives, friends,
and strangers, combined with her deep, quiet faith
in God and devotion to church, helped sustain her
through these hard times.
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During her years of being home, Betty stayed deeply
involved as a volunteer team leader for Community Concerts, which
brought musical performers of the highest quality to communities
around the country. Noting her success as a volunteer, the New York
office asked her to join their staff. Betty became a representative
for the Midwest territory, traveling several states, sometimes
through heavy snow, presenting the year’s headliners to various
communities, helping them decide on artists, and booking their
series. She loved her job and made new lifelong friends.
In December 2007, Betty celebrated her 90th birthday at the Maple
Club in Lincoln. By this time, she had begun spending her winters
with a daughter in Oak Park and by 2015, that had become her
permanent home. In 2017, she invited all her friends and family to
her 100th birthday in Oak Park’s Pleasant Home mansion. Family
gathered this past December to celebrate once again. On June 2 of
this year, the day she passed away, she was exactly 101-1/2 years
old.
Betty was, for everyone whose life she touched, both a dear friend
and an inspiration. She combined great skill with great love; she
responded to the needs of her family without hesitation; she faced
great losses with faith and resolution.
She is survived by her children: Larry (Pat) Phillips, Tony
Phillips, Lisa (Bob) Wood, Sara (Paul) Muriello, and Peggy (Gene)
Wedoff, 18 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.
Services will be held on Saturday, June 15, 2019, at Trinity
Episcopal Church, 402 Pekin Street, in Lincoln. Visitation begins at
9:00 a.m., followed by the funeral at 10:30 a.m.
Memorial donations may be made to Forward Movement,
www.forward movement.org
or to Trinity Church, P.O. Box 386, Lincoln IL 62656.
Final arrangements are entrusted with Quiram-Peasley Funeral Home of
Atlanta.
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