Cover photo for Phyllis Anderson Wood's Obituary
Phyllis Anderson Wood Profile Photo
1923 Phyllis 2011

Phyllis Anderson Wood

October 24, 1923 — July 22, 2011

Phyllis Anderson Wood passed away at Three Rivers Community Hospital on July 22, 2011. She was 87.

Phyllis was born October 24, 1923, in Palo Alto, California, and was raised in San Francisco. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and took a further year of graduate work in Speech and Drama at Stanford University. She received a Master’s degree with a specialty in the Teaching of Reading at San Francisco State University, and earned the California Language Development Specialist Certificate, which added the specialty of Teaching English-as-a-Second Language.

Altogether, Phyllis taught for thirty years in California public schools, including a two-room mountain high school, an inner-city junior high, a continuation school, adult school, and several large rural and suburban high schools. Over the years, she also supervised and mentored teaching interns from San Francisco State and Stanford Universities.

In the 1970s, Phyllis began writing novels. Her students’ daily lives and problems were reflected in her stories, and their reactions to her books strongly influenced the course of her writing. She was the winner of the Church and Synagogue Library Association’s award for “significant contributions to children’s literature,” and three of her books were Junior Literary Guild selections. She wrote a total of 13 young adult novels and over the last decade, she had put back in print seven of these novels for a new generation of young readers. Her website is www.phyllisandersonwood.com.

Phyllis conducted many in-service education workshops throughout the United States and Canada, and had spoken at many national conferences, including those of the American Library Association, International Reading Association, National Council of Teachers of English, and Catholic Library Association.

In 1947, she married Roger Holmes Wood. They lived for sixty years on the San Francisco Peninsula before relocating to Grants Pass in 2007 to be near their daughter and her family. She attended, supported and embraced the theatrical and musical arts within the community. In-lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in her memory to Heartland Dance, 330 Firview Lane, Wilderville, OR 97543.

She is preceded in death by her brother Carl Robert Anderson in 1936; her son, Stephen Holmes Wood, in 2007; and her husband, Roger, in 2008. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, David Wood and Sharon DeMills, of San Rafael, California; her daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and Nelson Maler, of Grants Pass; and her grandchildren, Sarah and Caleb Maler, of Grants Pass.

She was a life-long member of the Presbyterian Church and will be laid to rest with a private burial at Hillcrest Memorial Park. A celebration of life will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 31st, at her home. Please call 541-472-1212 for details.

To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Phyllis Anderson Wood, please visit our flower store.

Guestbook

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Send Flowers

Send Flowers

Plant A Tree

Plant A Tree