Laura M. Phillips died on March 24, 2011 at the Willow Valley Retirement Community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Miss Phillips was born in East Nottingham Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of the late H. Ross and Sara J. Leonard Phillips of Oxford.
She graduated from West Chester State Teachers College, now West Chester University. She later earned a Masters degree from Columbia University Teachers College in New York City. Miss Phillips taught elementary school on Long Island, New York for several years before joining the textbook publisher, Silver Burdett, in 1950 as a consultant to schools. In 1959, she joined Harcourt Brace Jovanovich as an Educational Consultant. She worked with administrators in states that purchased Harcourt’s textbooks on a statewide basis, as well as with teachers who were learning to use the books in their classrooms. In her lifetime, she traveled to many countries around the world. After her retirement from Harcourt Brace, she became a docent at the New York Public Library, leading tour groups through special exhibits at the library.
Miss Phillips lived in New York City for many years before moving to Willow Valley in 2007. Survivors include her sister, Louise P. Beckwith of Mountain Home, Arkansas and her nieces, Carol Brissie Martin of Lakeview, Arkansas and Pamela Brissie Joswick of Bayfield, Colorado as well as her nephew, Eugene F. Brissie of New Canaan, Connecticut. She is also survived by her cousins, Alberta Leonard Moody of Ozona, Florida and Dorothy Leonard Johnson of Willow Valley in Lancaster, three great-nieces, and one great-nephew.
A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on April 5th at the Oxford Cemetery.