Obituary

Phyllis Kay Carlson, 83, much loved mother, sister and grandmother, passed away December 23, 2021, in Chandler, AZ, surrounded by family. Phyllis was born in Clyde, Ohio on August 6, 1938 to Edward C. and Kathleen Varnum. She was the eldest of four siblings, a big sister to Harriet, Ed and David Varnum. Phyllis was a 1956 graduate of Rockford West High School and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she made many lifelong friends. After her marriage to her first husband Brad Wood, Sr. and the birth of their daughter Elizabeth in 1959, the young family traveled first to New Jersey and then to Germany for Brad’s military service. Upon return from Germany, Phyllis and family settled in Rockford. Their son Brad was born in 1964. In 1983, Phyllis moved to Tempe, Arizona, where the warm weather suited her and where her father had already relocated with his wife Alice. Like her father Edward, Phyllis had a facility and love of numbers and she had a long career as a bookkeeper until her retirement in 2013. She was joined in Arizona by her second husband David L. Carlson, and they enjoyed their annual summer returns to the Midwest to visit their many friends and family, eat proper sweet corn and enjoy the humidity and fireflies (both scarce in Arizona). Eventually also living in Arizona, Phyllis enjoyed the company of her grandson Dane and her daughter Elizabeth. Phyllis and David made many trips to Los Angeles to visit her granddaughters Olivia and Vanessa, and her Christmas cookie-making skills were on display often in the home of her son Brad and his wife Maria Suarez. In Tempe, Phyllis enjoyed gardening and landscaping the homes she proudly owned, was an active member and treasurer for the Pepperwood HOA and became an ardent fan of the Phoenix Suns basketball team. She even named her beloved cat Barklee after the Suns’ player Charles Barkley (deliberately misspelled). Preceded in death by her parents, sister Harriet and brother Edward, and her husband David. Survived by her brother David Varnum; children Elizabeth and Brad (Maria) Wood; stepchildren Ann-Elizabeth (Burt), Louis (Teresa) and Dwight Carlson and Rebecca Reagan; grandchildren Dane Echevarria, Olivia and Vanessa Wood, Sophie and Jasmine Carlson and Louie Carlson. The family would like to give a special thanks to the staff at Sante of Chandler, who provided rehabilitative care for Phyllis in 2013-14 and in her final days in 2021.

There will be a funeral service at 11am on Saturday June 18, 2022 at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 920 3rd Ave., Rockford. Burial will follow at 1:30pm at Scandinavian Cemetery, Rockford. To send a condolence or share a memory, visit olsonfh.com