Phyllis Mae Lissman was born in Sidney, Nebraska on November 15, 1927. She passed away from complications related to a heart ailment on Oct. 11, 2021 in Boise, Idaho, just one month short of her 94th birthday. 

She was preceded in death by her parents and siblings, her son-in-law Mike Violette; and by her beloved husband of 75 years, Wayne Lissman. She is survived by her daughter, Elaine Ricketts; and by her sons and their spouses; Henry and Roxie Lissman and Larry and Lydia Lissman; she is also survived by four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Phyllis married her high-school sweetheart, Wayne Lissman, on Oct. 5, 1943 in Lander, Wyo., just before he was “shipped” to the Pacific where he fought in the Philippine Islands in WW II. After the war Phyllis lived in Nyssa, Burns, Seneca, and Hines, then spent her final years in Payette, Idaho.

Phyllis’s life was dedicated to the service to others. She focused her intelligence, ambition, and compassion on improving the lives of people every place she lived. After the non-incorporated community of Seneca was informed that they could no longer dump their raw sewage directly into the Silvies River and that they had to remove the town dump from Shirt Tail Creek Phyllis was a leader in resolving the issue. 

She was active in incorporating the City of Seneca and was elected to the first City Council. She wrote the grants for funding of a sewage treatment facility and for establishing an environmentally friendly waste disposal site. She was an active member of the Seneca PTA and served as President for several years. 

She organized Seneca’s “Women Fire Fighters”, raised money for and chaperoned the Seneca Grade School Rope Jumpers trips to Chicago and Washington DC and served as a 4-H leader and Cub Scout Den Mother. 

She was active in the Oregon Home Extension Program by serving on the Grant County Home Extension Advisory Board and as a “Judge” of home extension projects at County Fairs around the state. When asked to help Grant County 4-H youth find housing for attendance at the Oregon State Fair she connected them with a state sponsored dormitory housing program and within several years became the statewide  “Dorm Supervisor” for Oregon youth involved in the State Fair and for the 4-H Summer School program held in Salem each year.  

In 1974 Governor Tom McCall awarded Phyllis the first ever “Youth Leadership” award and appointed her to the first Governor’s Advisory Committee for Youth. 

In 1972 she was hired to provide service for senior citizens in Harney County. Without an office, budget, staff or work plan she developed a multiple service program, raised funds to build a Senior Center providing nutrition, health, socialization, transportation, and other services.  

In 1976 she as awarded the Oregon Business and Professional Woman’s “Outstanding Woman of the Year” Golden Torch award.  In 1978 she was honored as Harney County’s “Woman of the Year”. She was an active member of the Governor’s Commission on Senior Services and served as President for several years.  

At her retirement from the Commission she was awarded the “Bob Van Houte Award” for “contributing significantly to the development of the long-term Care system in Oregon”.

Phyllis believed in people, was non-judgmental, and treated everyone with love and respect. She will be remembered as a welcoming mother figure by her children’s friends and for her work ethic, positive “can do” outlook, and for her caring and kindness for everyone she met. She loved and was loved by her family, who will forever hold her as an inspiration and role model for selflessness and service. 

Phyllis’s family has asked that in lieu of flowers friends and acquaintances make donations to the Idaho Commission for the Blind at 341 W. Washington, Boise, ID 83702. Private graveside services will be held at the family burial site in Nyssa, Ore.