Phyllis Estelline Hodge

She was born in Lubbock, Texas on October 31, 1938. Growing up in a Navy family, she lived in many places from Wisconsin, Texas to Arizona, and California. She attended the LA Pierce Community College in Woodland Hills, CA, and later graduated with a degree in Elementary Education at the University of Central Florida (previously Florida Technical University). She served in the U.S. Navy stationed in San Diego where she met and married Bobby Ray Risner. Their naval assignments were what brought them to the Sanford Naval Base.

She was a kind, generous, and empathetic mother for her own children and their friends while everyone was growing up in Sanford. She also touched the lives of the many children she taught during a thirty-year career in Seminole County Schools. As a lifetime educator, she worked at many schools beginning with Goldsboro Elementary, Southside Elementary, Lake Monroe Elementary, and Hamilton. Our home at the holidays was always filled with decorations similar to the festive old classroom bulletin boards teachers used to have.

She was a member of the national Beta Sigma Phi sorority, the Laureate Alpha Tau Chapter, where she enjoyed social time with her sisters and engaged in volunteer projects for the community. She loved reading, doing handicrafts, going to the beach, spending time with friends and family, and watching old movies.

She is survived by three children: Robert Risner, Karen Pharis, and Mary Risner; three grandchildren; five great-grandchildren, and one brother.

Her Celebration of Life service will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 15, 2023, at Deltona Memorial Gardens at 1295 Saxon Blvd. in Orange City.

Fond memories and online condolences to the family can be left at the the Deltona Memorial Gardens website at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/orange-city-fl/phyllis-hodge-11341353