Phyllis Nora (Richardson) Blackshear was a dedicated servant of the Lord, a professional nurse, a loving wife, a mother to two boys, a grandmother and great-grandmother.
She was born in Old Orchard Beach, Maine to Euphemia “Una” and Edward “Eddie” Richardson on Monday, October 3, 1921. The eldest of seven children, she assisted in the care and raising of her five brothers, Harold, William, Roland, Clifford, and Rupert, who predeceased her and her surviving sister, Gertrude.
Phyllis attended Portland High School in Portland, Maine and graduated in 1941. It was noted in her yearbook that she was an accomplished pianist. Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune was one of her favorite compositions to play. She was also a dedicated varsity athlete in high school, making the Senior Varsity Tennis team and was the first African American finalist in Women’s Singles at State Championships. Upon graduation, Phyllis applied for employment with local companies, but was discouraged by the sting of discrimination when her classmates were hired to work at New England Telephone & Telegraph as telephone operators. She was not offered employment because she did not “fit what they were looking for.” She resolved that her future would be found in New York City.
Traveling with her family friend, Doris Douglas from Boston, she moved to New York City, and stayed with her 2nd cousin, Ida Henry. Family friends living in Harlem, Pat and Roe Robinson, needed to persuade Phyllis’ mother, Una, that they would offer Phyllis safe and morally secure guidance, as Una believed that the “big city” had a reputation for corrupting young women.
Phyllis enrolled into the School of Practical Nursing at the NYC Department of Hospitals Bird S. Coler Hospital on Welfare Island (renamed Roosevelt Island). In her graduating class were two nurses with whom she would maintain life-long friendships, Janet M. Newlin and Lois Samuels.
While living at the Nurses Residence, Phyllis was introduced to Isaiah “Ike” Blackshear, a barber student enrolled at Goldwater Memorial Hospital on the south end of Welfare Island. Their friendship blossomed as Phyllis tutored Ike to successfully pass his biology and state barbering license.
Phyllis and Ike were married on June 10, 1950 in Portland, Maine in a double-ring ceremony before the Rev. George Alben Cole at First Baptist Church. Given in marriage by her father, it was reported that the bride wore a nylon-net gown, appliqued with exquisite imported mandilace, with a long train and a bonnet-effect tiara and carried a bouquet of white roses and lilies of the valley. Her sister, Gertrude Richardson, maid of honor, was dressed in a light blue and nylon-net gown and a matching hat.
Bridesmaids, in Nile green and yellow, were Mary Roberts, cousin of the bride, of Old Orchard; Evelyn Hurt, of Philadelphia; Betty Shepherd, of Boston, and Lois Samuels, of Brooklyn. After a honeymoon in Montreal, Canada, the couple returned to their home at 169-27 Linden Boulevard, Jamaica, Queens, New York.
Phyllis was employed as a pediatric nurse at City Hospital on Welfare Island until the birth of her first son, Stephen in 1953. She remained a stay-at-home mom after the birth of her second son, Alvin Keith, until 1972 when she returned to Peninsula General Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens, as a pediatric licensed practical nurse, until her retirement in 1992.
Later in life, Phyllis and Ike traveled extensively. She and Ike were married for 52 years until his death in 2002.
Phyllis was an active member of the church, serving as an ordained Elder to the Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens for eight years. She was equally active at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York. The later years of her life were dedicated to the care and attention of her husband, Ike, until he succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in July 2002.
She is survived by her two sons, Stephen Allen and daughter-in-law Isabel, Alvin Keith and daughter-in-law Barbara, grandchildren, Tanya, Javier and granddaughter-in-law Carey, and Mark Watkins-Blackshear, and four great-grandchildren, Stevie, Salvatore, Jessica, and Maya. Grandson, Andrew Watkins-Blackshear predeceased her.
Phyllis will be missed by dozens of nieces, nephews, and numerous relatives and friends located across the world.
In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.
