She took several children with
a troubling or absent home life
under her wing, including a Native
American baby boy named Billy.
Phyllis raised him from two months
old to adulthood – sadly, Billy
passed away in 2008 as an adult,
but the experience never leaves
Phyllis’ heart. A young white girl
from Superior, Wyoming also joined
Phyllis’ family, and another boy
with cerebral palsy, while not living
with the family for long, was taken
to therapy and other supportive
programs by Phyllis.
“I loved teaching on the
reservation,” Phyllis remembers as
we discussed her time there. “The
children were the same as anywhere
else. I think some people think
children on the reservation aren’t
as bright, but they are! I saw very
intelligent children there.”
It was with her love of Native
American people and culture in
mind, and a little inspiration from
Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard
movie, that Phyllis put her love for
the people to work again. In 2014,
Phyllis released Home at Last, a story
of a family on the edge of the Wind
River Indian Reservation working
around the challenges of drug
abuse and adding in a little danger
as well. Phyllis’s second book is
due out before much longer – both
are published by Rosedog Books
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
currently Home at Last is available on
Amazon. Today Phyllis is a retiree
living in Jackson, reading, writing
and enjoying the local senior center.
she began a 20-year career as an
award-winning art director, graphic
artist and illustrator for the Jackson
Hole News and Jackson Hole Magazine.
and Keith discovered a passion for
emergency wilderness response,
volunteering and serving as a
professional EMT for over 15 years.
Artist Diane Benefiel, who created
the cover for Phyllis’ book in
addition to her own line of work,
is a Nebraska native and graduate
of Colorado Institute of Art. She
moved to Jackson in 1977, where
With her husband Keith and his
toddler daughter Erin, they lived
in a small cabin at the base of the
Teton Pass in historic downtown
Wilson, where they loved exploring
their huge natural ‘backyard.’ Diane
It was a medical emergency that
ended Diane’s career as an EMT
in 2010. It was in the process of
healing that she rediscovered her
joy of drawing, painting, and “…
just the simple act of seeing.” Plein
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