Parents Alva and Arlena Winter, deceased.
One sister, Sandra Winter Fortney. Deceased Dec 25, 2021.
Growing up, Jane learned to play the accordion as well as the piano (lessons for 8 years). She wanted to play the glockenspiel in the marching band but it was too heavy for her to carry so she learned the saxophone instead (in a week). As a career, she wanted to be a nurse but was told that she was too small and would not be able to move patients so she went to Beauty school instead and became a Beautician.
On December 4, 1960, Jane married Richard (Dick) Phillips. They had dated shortly in high school but he left Iowa for college and then Navy officers training. When he returned, his mother reached out to Jane to say he was back. They promptly reconnected, got married and moved to San Diego where Dick served as a Naval officer.
In 1964 they moved to Washington DC, where Dick served as a Civil Servant.
In 1967 they moved to Seattle, where Dick worked for the University of Washington, retiring in 1994. They bought a house in Seattle’s View Ridge neighborhood in 1969. Dick died in 2004, from ALS.
In 1978, Jane expanded her musical experiences at Shoreline Community College. She sang with the Shoreline Community College Chamber Singers, and became their choral accompanist in 1979. She continued singing with the Shoreline Community Choir, (later to become Choir of the Sound). During her 33 years with Choir of the Sound she assumed many administrative duties. She was also coordinator for the five performances in Seattle of the British sextet, the King’s Singers.
Jane not only sang in the choir but on occasion also played either organ, harpsichord or other keyboards as needed in the orchestra, which accompanied the choir. She left the choir in 2012. Jane considered her years with Choir of the Sound to be most rewarding and felt that music was what created her extended family of friends.
Outside of the choir, Jane continued to share her keyboard skills with many churches in the Seattle area as a substitute organist or pianist.
In 2012, Jane resumed a long-time close friendship with her friend, Lew Pearson, in Virginia, who had lost his wife, Marge, Jane’s best friend. They were able to enjoy seven beautiful years together before he passed in 2018.
Jane came down with Covid in August 2022, but things advanced further with her subsequent diagnosis of Cancer throughout her body in December of that year.
*Suggested memorials may be made to www.choirofthesound.org
A memorial service for Jane will be held Sunday, May 19, 2024 from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Bothell United Methodist Church, 18515 92nd Ave NE, Bothell, WA 98011.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.9.6