Phyllis Marie Deckert, 101, Manhattan, died Oct. 15, 2022, at Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community. She was born March 7, 1921, the second of four daughters to Lucius Higley and Dorothy Campbell at Chase. Her parents, her husband Leslie, sisters Pauline, Rosalie, and Dory, granddaughter Rebecca, daughter-in-law Nancy preceded her in death. She was baptized a Presbyterian in Chase. After the family’s move to a farm north of Pawnee Rock, she and her sisters cleaned the Bergthal Mennonite Church and played hide and seek among the monuments of the cemetery. She was a quiet Christian who helped with church dinners and attended women’s church activities.
Phyllis married Leslie R. Deckert on Aug. 12, 1941, and they began life together on a small farm west of Pawnee Rock in Pawnee County. After 40 years on the farm, they retired to Larned, where Leslie passed away in 2004. Phyllis began residency in Manhattan in December 2017. Daughter Cora Colleen Smith and husband Larry of Wichita and son Andrew and wife Linda of Manhattan in addition to four grandchildren (Alysun and husband Mike of Seattle; Ryun and wife Angie of Kirkwood, Mo.; Scott and wife Emily of Lenexa; and Matt and Jodie of Owatonna, Minn.) and six grandchildren (Toby and Evie of Kirkwood, Charlotte and Clara of Lenexa, Jaycie and Tyler of Owattonna) survive Phyllis.
Phyllis’ high school graduation portrait showed a young woman unafraid of venturing into a rapidly changing world. Her pony rides to visit neighbors as a young girl were replaced by airplane travel to her granddaughter’s wedding in Seattle; crank telephones and party lines became cell phones; information transmitted by telegram, telephone, and the radio yielded to the TV and her computer; and living with the theory that kerosene was a cure- all gave way to penicillin, vaccines and joint replacements. With a shy smile, she stood at attention when airport security cautiously circled her with a wand because her knee replacements set off the alarms. With a twinkle in her eye of a 90-year-old, she confessed she had traveled 90 mph in her bright candy-apple red VW Beetle to visit her daughter in Wichita.
Phyllis was a woman of many talents. She was known for her singing voice at the Pawnee Rock Methodist Church and Easter Messiah presentations in Larned. Many parents were the recipients of hand knit sweaters and booties for their newborns. She exhibited knitting and wheat weaving projects, cakes, china painting, and cookie jars at the Pawnee County Fair and Kansas State Fair where she received more than 100 colorful ribbons. A disqualification occurred when the judge discovered she had decorated an empty cake pan turned upside down. A child of the Great Depression, Phyllis Deckert’s scheme of things did not include wasting a good cake.
Graveside services in the Pawnee Rock cemetery will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, 2022, with Larry Fry presiding. Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022, at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned.
Memorial may be given to the United Methodist Church, in care of Beckwith Mortuary, PO Box 477, Larned, Kansas 67550. Personal condolences may be left at www.beckwithmotuary.com.