Terry Glasco PHYLLIS FAYE (BORLAND) MCALLISTER
was born March 6, 1919 in Oelwein, IA; married (2) Virgil McAllister on May 1, 1955 in Lake City, WA. Phyllis died June 23, 1989 in Spokane, WA and her ashes were scattered on the ocean.
Our dear Phyllis was a fun loving gal! She enjoyed life! She didn't depend on others to entertain her, but she was the first to make sure everyone else was treated royally. "Bill" as she was affectionately known was always a very conscientious, hard working, eager to please gal.
As she graduated from Oelwein High in 1941, she was invited to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN to learn hospital work with a group of other girls. I suspect this was a recommendation through the school's office. I don't know how long that lasted, but the same group of girls went to Kansas City, KS and worked for the North American Aircraft Company. She has several certificates for excellence in the memory book I have compiled for her. Because she was a tiny person, she was an electrician in the nose cones of the airplanes. During WWII when the B-29 bombers were used, she transferred to Boeing in Seattle and Bremerton, WA. She was a very intelligent lady, well liked at Boeing and knew her mechanics inside and out. She worked her way to the top and at her retirement from Boeing was a tool room supervisor.
Bill loved her home and gardens. She provided vegetables and fruits for everyone in town. She never came to our house without bringing several boxes of canned fruit, veggies and salmon. This way she felt she was paying her way. At the time of her death she had two cases of beet pickles and cherries waiting for her annual trip to Arizona and California.
You will remember she tried to remember all the children on their birthdays.
She and her first husband were cooks on the Alaskan Railroad, built after WWII. I have her photo album from that. There are pictures of her fishing the streams with a rifle slung over her back. She said she always slept with a rope and a pistol under her pillow. What a gal!
She and Chuck (Audrey's husband) had lots of good conversations and she loved to come to help him garden, paint, build, fish and just have fun. They really enjoyed each other. After she was here and helped him build the fish pond in the back yard, she sent him a cassette of Sinatra's I'll Do It My Way. Very coy!
In the last ten years of her life she did much craft work and quilting which was sold at the Senior Center in Soap Lake. She was given an award for her service and at the time of her death I made various contributions in her memory for a plaque for her. After Virgil died, Phyllis learn to drive at age 55. She simply said if she wanted to go, she had to do it. And go she did, all over the United States!