Phyllis Wise

Her faith, her family, and her friends were three things at the center of Phyllis Wise's life—and she was devoted to each of them. She passed away peacefully at the Ava’s House in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, surrounded by her family and carried in the hands of Jesus Christ.

Phyllis Laurita Cummings was born on June 23, 1934, in Pierre, South Dakota, to Earl and Verna Cummings. Earl was a skilled mechanic and Verna a professional baker and cake decorator, and Phyllis used knowledge gained from both parents in her later years.

She attended Pierre High School and played French horn in the Concert Band, Marching Band, Pep Band, and French Horn Quartet. During high school, one of her jobs was working at the Lariat Lanes Bowling Alley as a pin setter.

After graduating from High School in 1952, Phyllis attended beauty school and then then worked as beautician for Gordon Stewart in his shop in the Carpenter Hotel in Sioux Falls.

While working in Sioux Falls, she met the love of her life Robert (Bob) Wise whom she married on July 3, 1954, in Pipestone, Minnesota. The couple had five children: Steve, Connie, Craig, Shari, and Caron. Bob passed away in 1985, and the children rejoice that their parents have been finally reunited after 40 years.

After her kids were grown, Phyllis worked at Ideal Hardware in the Western Mall for five years, then at Tri-State Warehouse and Dakota Auto Parts as a parts person and shop secretary for 13 years. She returned to Ideal Hardware, now called the Ideal Wedding and Party Center, first at the polka dot building at 12th and Minnesota Avenue and then at the location in the River Plaza. One of her jobs at Ideal was printing napkins. She kept count one year and calculated she printed 245,000 napkins that year. She worked for Ideal for 18 more years and then retired in 2005.

Phyllis always traced her deep-rooted faith back to her mother, who spent 30 years as a Sunday school teacher in Pierre. Phyllis followed in her mom’s footsteps at her beloved Faith Lutheran church in Sioux Falls, and taught Sunday school and confirmation classes, sang in the church choir (usually singing tenor), and was an active member of Faith Auxiliary, Lutheran Women Missionary League, and the Altar Guild.

Phyllis and Bob were early members of Faith Adult Christians and Phyllis continued attending FACs events after Bob’s passing. She was usually the first to introduce herself to church attendees, and she delighted in finding details about members and visitors, young and old. She had an incredible memory and knew not only the names but often the birthday dates of people she met at church. She loved the little ones and treated them with kindness and good humor. She loved connecting with young families to make sure kids had a good spiritual start.

Her family meant everything to Phyllis, and she was actively involved in the activities of her kids, her grandkids, and great-grandkids—from scouts to show choir, from football to dance recitals, from marching band to musicals, and from Christmas programs to Gilbert and Sullivan operas—she was there. Oftentimes she operated a grandma taxi service, hauling grandkids to and from school and to and from activities and events. She celebrated the accomplishments of her kids, grandkids, great grandkids, and other family members and let them (and the world) know she loved and was proud of them.

She was an accomplished seamstress and made beautifully crafted wedding dresses for Connie and Caron along with fun Halloween costumes for the kids. She loved to dress up in costumes herself to get others to smile and laugh. She made dozens of baby blankets and burp rags and joyfully gave them away to families with new babies. She stepped into Grandma Verna’s shoes by baking and decorating delightful cakes for birthdays and other occasions.

She loved all different kinds of music and seeing musicals and plays at the Washington Pavillion. She was kind of a foodie and loved the food at Sanaa’s Mediterranean Restaurant and the Pho at Lam's Vietnamese Restaurant. She loved football and rooting for her favorite team, the Kansas City Chiefs and her favorite player, Patrick Mahomes. She enjoyed watching golf, even though she had never played a single stroke. And she watched Jeopardy twice a day. She had a great sense of humor and infectious chuckle and laugh. She loved her family and friends unconditionally.

Grateful for having shared her life are her daughters: Connie Zuraff, Shari Curry, and Caron de la Montanya; her sons: Steve and Craig; her son-in-law: Randy Curry; daughter-in-law: Deb Wise and sister-in-law, Mary Ellen Cummings. Also grateful are her 11 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren; her nephew, nieces, and cousins.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Bob Wise; parents; Earl and Verna Cummings; brother, Duane Cummings; and son-in-law, Michael de la Montanya.