Phyllis Elaine (White) Whitaker, 80, of Kansas City, Missouri, formally of Wetmore, Kansas, passed peacefully on October 8, 2015, at Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka, Kansas.

Phyllis was born June 25, 1935, on a farm near Bancroft, Kansas, to Lawrence and Wilma (Faulkender) White. Shortly thereafter the family moved to Wetmore where Phyllis attended school, graduating in 1954. Her desire to care for others started soon after high school when she began working at Holton Hospital as a nurses’ aide. She also worked for her parents’ nursing home, The White Way, in Wetmore and later as a nursing home administrator in Onaga, Kansas.

Phyllis married Lyle Philip Whitaker on August 3, 1956, at the United Methodist Church in Wetmore. The couple lived in Oakley, Kansas, then moved to Topeka before making Wetmore their permanent home in 1964. This would be where they would raise their four children.

In 1981 they became sole owners of Machine Design & Mfg Co. Inc., where she worked until 1991. She later went to work for Gingerbread Daycare in Sabetha, Kansas, ending her working career as it had started, caring for others. Phyllis was an active member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post #282 in Wetmore. She enjoyed cooking, fishing, and Bingo, but her true passion was traveling around the country with her bowling league showing her strength by using a mens 16lb ball. Every summer she and Lyle would pack up the RV and take their grandchildren to different corners of the country. She was even lucky enough to travel with her son Philip to exotic areas of the globe including Hawaii, Amsterdam, and Sydney, Australia. Her dedication to her grandchildren was evident, rarely missing a musical or sporting event. She moved to South Carolina in 2007 to live with her son Steve and his wife Brenda. She decided in 2010 to move closer to home and lived with her son Philip in Kansas City, where she remained until shortly before her death. After moving to Kansas City one could often see her cheering at either a Royals or Chiefs game.

Phyllis is survived by a daughter, Karen Diane (Whitaker) Johnson of Salina, Kansas; two sons, Steven Lawrence Whitaker of Wetmore and Lyle “Philip” Whitaker II of Kansas City, Missouri; three grandchildren, Jason Whitaker of Topeka, Jamie Zayed of Doha, Qatar, and Maryam Zayed of Topeka; seven great-grandchildren, Shelby Hopkins, Jesse Moore, Nicholas Moore, and Shyann Moore of Wetmore; Mazin Zayed of Topeka, Zyphr Zayed of Doha, Qatar, and Amir Zayed of New York; a sister, Marcella Ilene (White) Stedman of Woodstock, Georgia; along with a host of friends.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband, Lyle; a son, David Allen; her parents, Lawrence and Wilma; and a granddaughter, Cathy Ann Bradford.

Phyllis watched over her family, especially her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, from the moment each was born and will continue to until the end of time. A fund has been set up by the grandchildren to send some of their beloved grandmother’s cremated remains into an eternal celestial orbit around Earth. This is achieved by placing a capsule containing a portion of the remains aboard a manned spacecraft that then places the capsule on a satellite orbiting the Earth. The satellite is trackable at anytime online or from a smart phone and can also be seen when orbiting overhead.** —looking toward the heavens knowing you are guiding us safely through life— Services will be Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 2:00pm at the Methodist Church in Wetmore. Wetmore National Bank c/o Phyllis Whitaker Memorial fund 314 2nd St. Wetmore, KS