Phyllis K. LeShane's Obituary
Phyllis Kathryn Bradley was born in 1935 to Ben H. and Viola Mary (McGuire) Bradley and raised in the Chicago area; her father was a manager for Pullman Standard. The family’s passion was an old cottage on Corey Lake in Michigan where she spent her summers and learned to water-ski. She worked her way through college at the University of Miami, skiing professionally at the Wisconsin Dells attraction and Gulfstream Racetrack.
Phyllis married Ed Richard in 1956 and had three daughters. As a stay-at-home mother in the 60s and 70s, she was highly creative and a lot of fun. Phyllis loved playing all types of games - especially Chinese checkers - and was a great chess player. She loved to read and visited the library almost every week and usually skimmed her daughters’ selections while waiting in the checkout line. She had a lifelong love of learning and language and went back to college after age 65 to learn Spanish. She loved to write; faithfully wrote in her diary, wrote countless beautiful and moving poems, and even wrote a telenovela completely in Spanish. She continued the family tradition of creating treasure hunts and enjoyed the Miami Herald’s Tropic Hunt on a regular basis. Her house was always full of music - piano or phonograph - and she knew the words to enough songs to sing from Miami to Corey Lake without repeating a single one.
Phyllis was a novice filmmaker and director and enjoyed re-making classic films in 8 mm with the help of her family, neighbors, and friends - especially the Hibbard, Charlton and Ochs families. She edited the films and painstakingly created accompanying soundtracks on cassette. Once complete, Phyllis hosted a screening for the actors and their families which always included watching lots of movies - not just the latest - and she made dozens.
Movies Phyllis made in Miami are included in the MDCC Wolfson Archives due to the historic value of their locations: a rockpit along the Palmetto Expressway became Neverland in Peter Pan; Vizcaya’s gardens served as the site of a children’s beauty pageant in Cinderella ’67, a Miami River bridge, a boardinghouse and numerous Dade County schools set the scenes for Ollie, a modern version of Oliver Twist, and aerial footage of the City of Miami from an airplane taking off in the 1960s is a poignant ending to Camelot USA. Unfortunately, the Wolfson collection does not include her custom soundtracks.
In addition to yearly trips to Corey Lake, Phyllis encouraged her teenaged daughters to travel and saved for years to take them to England, Ireland and France. She returned to France with Fred years later and also traveled with him to Guatemala and around the United States and Canada, rock-hounding and visiting friends and family.
Phyllis loved Miami from the ocean to her “castle at the end of the road” on Westwood Lake where she swam, skied and taught her girls and many neighborhood children how to swim, read, play games and dance ballet. When her youngest daughter began school, she went back to UM for a Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling, beginning her work with the children and tutors of the After School House in South Miami as a graduate student.
She also worked as a pre-school teacher at the First United Methodist Church and Harmony House in Miami, Head Start and Kindergarten teacher in Maryland, Pediatric Play Therapist at Jackson Memorial Hospital and Director of the After School House.
Phyllis was a Unitarian Universalist before she knew what one was, incorporating the UU Principles in her work, relationships and volunteerism throughout her life. She taught Sunday School, first at Coral Gables Congregational Church and later at the First Unitarian Church where she met her second husband, Fred LeShane. She demonstrated for peace and civil rights, was instrumental in starting the UU Congregation of South Dade, assisted Fred when he earned his Ph.D., and was his sole caregiver for many years as he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and numerous strokes. After his death, chaired the Caring Committee at the UU Congregation of Miami.
Like her mother and grandmother, Phyllis suffered through years of Alzheimer’s dementia. Unlike them, she volunteered her body and mind for research to find a cure for this debilitating disease; first through a drug trial with Compass Research in Orlando, then as a brain donor with The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center. She was 80 years old when she passed away peacefully in her sleep on January 31, 2016 in Eustis, Florida. Until the very end, Phyllis kept her smile and sense of humor.
Phyllis is survived by her daughters: Kathy (Ed) Wydallis of Wellington, CO, Barbara (Michael) Howell of Umatilla, FL and Joan (James) Watson of Eustis, FL. Grandchildren: Jessica & John Wydallis, Corey (Jacqueline Nitzsche) Glasgow, Iris (Michael) Wilga and Julia & Jonathan Watson. Great-grandchildren: Coraline & Liam Glasgow and Lucille & Madeline Wilga. Step-children: Dorri (LeShane) Angier and family of Lake Elsinore, CA and David LeShane of Colorado Springs, CO. Step-grandson: Joseph LeShane of Gainesville, FL.
Phyllis is also survived by her brother R. Dennis Bradley, nieces Amanda (Bret) Lorenc and their children Luke, Kasia and Kai and Laura (Mark) Isard and their daughter Ella, all of Chicago, IL; cousins, friends and the wonderful staff, hospice caregivers and residents at Eustis Senior Care. Last, but certainly not least, Phyllis is survived by “Sis,” her life-long best friend, Phyllis Beatty (Tom) Henkelmann of Chippewa Falls, WI.
Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents, Viola and Ben Bradley, her first husband and father of her daughters, Edwin L. Richard, her second husband, the Reverend Dr. Fred A. LeShane, and stepsons Phillip and Peter LeShane.
As the family is not holding a public memorial service, please post messages on this website or mail to 41914 Thomas Boat Landing Road, Umatilla, FL 32784.
Her daughters ask that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to one of the following in memory of Phyllis K. LeShane:
The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Center, 1506 Lake Highland Drive, Orlando, FL 32803
Compassionate Care Hospice, 214 E Washington Street Suite C, Minneola, FL 34715 or
Cornerstone Hospice, 2445 Lane Park Road, Tavares, FL 32778
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