Phyllis Nielsen

Personal Story

Phyllis was born during the Great Depression in December 1934 in Ladysmith Wisconsin to George and Esther. A year and a half later brother Richard “Dick” was born. George was a dairy farmer so Phyllis grew up loving milk, butter, and cheese! Phyllis enjoyed watching her dad as he tapped maple trees and boiled down the sap to make maple syrup. Feeding the chickens and collecting eggs were among her many daily chores. During this time Phyllis trusted in Christ as her Savior and was baptized.

The Nichols family missed being close to their relatives and eventually moved back to South Dakota. They purchased a small farm near Brookings and attended the Church of God. Phyllis attended Brookings High School where she played the cornet in the band. When Phyllis graduated from high school, her dad sold a cow so that they could take a trip across the state to enjoy the Black Hills.

It was at a church activity that Phyllis met the love of her life, Charles. He was two years ahead in school and thought he was going to get drafted when he graduated from high school, so he stayed and worked on the family farm for a year, giving Charles and Phyllis another year for their romance to blossom. He was encouraged by his pastor to go to Anderson College in Indiana, and enrolled in the fall of 1951 while Phyllis finished high school. Upon graduation, Phyllis also enrolled at Anderson College. They were soon engaged, then traveled to Brookings for their July 1953 wedding. Phyllis sewed her own wedding dress!

Phyllis continued her studies when returning to Anderson College until the birth of their first child, Linda, and their second, Randy. After Charles graduated from seminary in 1958, they moved to St. Joseph, Michigan, where Charles served as music, youth, and Christian Education pastor at the Church of God. Their third child, Mark, was born there. Phyllis loved being involved with the church youth ministry.

In 1960 the Nielsens moved back to Brookings where Charles attended graduate school at South Dakota State University. Those were wonderful times, being close to grandparents, and many relatives on both sides of the family. Just before moving to Dickinson North Dakota in 1963, Patti was born. It was while living in Dickinson that the Nielsen family began their love of camping. They packed up their Corvair station wagon in August 1964 and headed to Yellowstone for the first of many wonderful camping adventures, the six of them staying in their blue canvas tent.

The Nielsens moved to Portland in 1966 when Charles was offered a teaching position at Warner Pacific College. They were excited to be near family again as Charles’ sisters Vi Jensen and Opal McGriff, and Phyllis’ sister-in-law Shirley’s sister Darlene Iverson all lived in Portland and gave the Nielsens a warm welcome. Phyllis embraced this season of life as a busy wife, mom, and homemaker. She was a wonderful cook and hostess, showing love to those in the Warner, neighborhood, and church communities. With four kids attending Bridger grade school, Phyllis volunteered in PTA, scouting, and other activities. At church, she loved teaching Sunday school and serving wherever needed. She and Charles enjoyed being involved in a young married Sunday school class called the “King’s Couples.”

Once all of her children were in school, Phyllis enrolled at Warner Pacific College and juggled studying and family life, graduating in 1973 summa cum laude. After graduation Phyllis taught reading for the next several decades, first at Mt. Hood Community College, and later at Portland Community College. She also served as the preschool director at Holladay Park Church of God for two years. During these years, she always made time to support her children with their activities such as music, sports, and youth group.

Before long Phyllis was promoted from “mom” to “grandma.” What a fun season of life! Though she never knew a grandparent, Phyllis was intentional about spending as much time with her grandkids as she could and filled her home with pictures of them, and then the great grandkids. She hosted sleepovers with cookie baking, tea parties, and lots of games. A favorite destination with the grandkids was The Children’s Museum. She attended as many of the grandkids’ sporting events, musical performances, and other activities as she could.

Retirement allowed Phyllis and Charles more time to spoil the grandkids, camp, and travel. Their favorite camping location was also their favorite fishing spot, Trillium Lake. What a delight it was for Phyllis to shower her family with some good camp cooking! They traveled many places in the world including Europe, the South Pacific, Central Asia, and Central America. In 1998 Charles and Phyllis taught at the Kazak-American College in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan for five weeks.

In the year 2000, son Mark tragically died while hunting. Phyllis and Charles were right by his wife Margie’s side to support the family through their tremendous shared grief, and continued to provide practical and emotional support as Mark and Margie’s 4 children were raised. Family was Phyllis’ passion.

She was also an excellent seamstress, sharing many quilts with grandchildren and others over the years. She was a loyal friend to so many. She was an excellent cook and hostess, inviting hundreds of people from around the world into her home and dining room table over the years. She was always an active member of her churches (Richmond Community, Woodstock and Mt. Scott Church of God, and Ainsworth United Church of Christ). Always looking out for the marginalized, she volunteered as part of a job-training program while at Woodstock Church of God helping new Laotian immigrants train to find work. Later she volunteered with Human Solutions mentoring refugee families and volunteered as a reading tutor at a local elementary school.

After Charles’ passing in 2017, Phyllis continued to show love to her family and friends as much as she was able to. In the years since, she suffered many medical set-backs and needed more help with her own care, but continued to express her interest in the lives of others, always asking how the grandchildren and great-grandchildren were and what types of activities they were involved in.

Family

Phyllis was preceded in death by husband Charles, son Mark, parents George and Esther, and brother Dick. She is survived by children Linda Plikat, Randy Nielsen (Kerri), Patti Long (Tim), daughter-in-law Margie Nielsen-Stevens (Dale Stevens), grandchildren Adrian Fehr (Marian Sandoval), Nikolas Sharhorodsky Fehr (Halyna), Bethany Paetkau (Joshua), Corey Nielsen (Emily), Cassie Shirley (Ben), Jill Moua (Kevin), Brett Nielsen (Sara), Collin Nielsen, Caitlyn Nielsen (Christopher Jaeger), Cameron Nielsen, Colby Nielsen, Sharon McNeil (Jon), Matthew Long (Kaitlin), Bethany Miller (Tavis), David Long (Haley), Great-Grandchildren Solomon and Rose Paetkau; Gabriel and Maria Filippa Sharhorodsky Fehr; Ian, Micah, Payton and Elise Nielsen; Jozlyn, Samantha, Rochelle and Jayden Shirley; Jeremiah and Adina Moua; Connor and Ella Nielsen; Odin, Jonas and June McNeill; Charlotte, Grace and Gabriel Long; Josephine, Violet and Ben Miller; Lukas, Emmet, and Selah Long; Vivienne Hadduck-Long, and Asher Hadduck. Phyllis is also survived by many nieces and nephews. Her family live around the world including Canada, Norway, and Thailand.

Phyllis’ life will be celebrated with a Memorial Service Sunday November 24th at 3:00 pm at Finley-Sunset Hill Mortuary & Sunset Hills Memorial Park, 6801 SW Sunset Hwy, Portland, OR 97225. Private burial.

Memorial Options:

Phyllis supported a variety of ministries. You’re encouraged to consider giving to one of these or a ministry of your choice in honor of her. Click on the hotlinks to access the ministry giving options:

Warner Pacific University: Charles Nielsen Social Sciences Scholarship Fund. 2219 SE 68th Ave, Portland OR 97215; 503-517-1020. To give online, click on this hotlink: Ways to Give | Warner Pacific University. There is a place you can put who the donation will honor and a place to specify the name of the scholarship fund.

Phyllis’ granddaughter, Jill, and husband Kevin, church planting ministry in northern Thailand

Moua Meanderings - November 2024 Kevin and Jill met in Thailand, were married in 2011, have two children, and were serving at the international Evangelical Church of Bangkok until recently when they moved to Udon Thani, a 9 hour drive north of Bangkok near the Laos border, to plant an international church. For more information, please contact Phyllis’s son and daughter-in-law (Randy and Kerri, Jill’s parents) at [email protected].