Phyllis Laflin

Phyllis Merle Laflin, 82, passed away Sunday, July 10, 2016, at the Thermopolis Rehabilitation and Care Center. 

Phyllis was born October 15, 1933, in Red Oak, Iowa, the daughter of Wayne Michael and Dorothy Lucinda (Bridge) Giles. She grew up in Emerson, Iowa, graduating from high school in 1951. She then fulfilled her childhood dream and attended Jennie Edmundson School of Nursing in Council Bluffs, Iowa, graduating in 1954 as a registered nurse.

On March 4, 1955, she married Jerry Maurice Laflin in Red Oak, Iowa. Married for 54 years, they raised three children and lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, Brookville, Kan., Salina, Kan., Manhattan, Kan., and then retired to Bendena, Kan. After her husband died, she later moved to Thermopolis to be near her daughter. She resided at the Pioneer Home and the Thermopolis Rehabilitation and Care Center.

During her career as a nurse, Phyllis worked in a variety of settings including public health, hospital nursing, women's health, skilled nursing, home health, hospice, and after her retirement in 1995, as a substitute school nurse in Atchison, Kan.

Phyllis volunteered in her spare time to hospice, food and clothing banks and several church organizations where she lived. An avid reader, she was a member of a reading club and had multiple library cards to sustain this passion. A lover of music, she participated in the Sweet Adeline's singing group in the 1970s. She also participated in Red Hats Society, Diabetic Association activities and the Bendena Homemakers Association. Most of all, Phyllis enjoyed time with her family.

She is survived by a brother, Larry McCollester of Warrensburg, Mo .; sister, Janet Bland of Clever, Mo .; sons, Michael Ray (Karen) Lafling of Oblong, Ill., and Rea David (Karen Jo) Lafli of Atchison, Kan .; daughter, Rachel Elizabeth (Vern) Miller, of Thermopolis; ten grandchildren; and fourteen great-grandchildren. 

She was preceded in death by her parents; and husband.

Memorial services will be Saturday, July 16, 2016, at 11 a.m. at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church with Father Joe Galligan officiating. Burial of cremains will be in Bendena, Kan. Memorials may be made to Friends of HSC Library, P.O.Box 951, Thermopolis, 82443.

Mortimore Funeral Home assisted the family.  Online memories may be expressed at http://www.mortfh.com.