Phyllis Sheila Youngblood

Our mom, Phyllis Sheila Youngblood, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, passed away peacefully on March 6, 2025, at the age of 92.

Mom was born on May 20, 1932, in her grandmother’s upstairs bedroom in Soham, England, but grew up 13 miles away in Ely, England. Ely is a small parish in the East Cambridgeshire district, in Cambridgeshire, England, 80 miles north of London.

Mom had a sister, Beryl, who was 2 years younger. Mom said she loved playing with Beryl, and remembered her always liking to climb, which often got her into trouble. Beryl later married Harold Howard and had a son John together. Beryl preceded Mom in death in December 2021.

In 1953, while working in a bakery in Soham, Mom embarked on a new chapter of her life. As the story goes, there was a service man in the United States Air Force who drove by her shop. When he honked at a dog in the road, Mom waved…and as they say, the rest is history. Mom married our dad, John W. Youngblood, and moved to the United States as a “war bride”. This gave her mum great consternation, having her oldest daughter whisked off to the “wild, wild west!”

For Mom though, it was an exciting transition to a new life, complete with a nauseous two-week journey in the belly of a military boat across the Pacific Ocean, seeing the New York skyline for her very first time and visiting Niagara Falls which she had only seen in pictures. Their travels continued westward by train across the great plains of the United States on their way to Caldwell, Idaho. When arriving at the train station in Pocatello, Idaho, Mom thought for a moment that perhaps her mother’s fears of the “wild west” weren’t unfounded. As she looked out the window of the train, she saw several native American Indians dressed in ceremonial regalia, complete with feathers and war bonnets, dancing around the train! Where had her husband taken her? This place was so far removed from the quaint little town of Ely where she had grown up! Later she found out that they were from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, located on the Fort Hall Reservation in Southeastern Idaho, and were part of a celebratory festival held at that time each year.

Together, they had two children, Michael (Nancy) Youngblood and Bridget (Albert Kirkland) Bischoff. Mom’s greatest joy was always her family. She was always involved in our activities in school and scouts and spent many years as a “choir mom” for our time in the church choirs at the Cathedral of the Rockies First United Methodist Church in Boise, Idaho. During that time, Mom enjoyed some wonderful experiences, and was able to see a lot of the United States while traveling on choir tours around the country. On one memorable trip, we traveled by bus across the country to southern Georgia seeing Stone Mountain, up the Atlantic coast to see the monuments and take tours in Washington D.C., over to New York City to go to the top of the Empire State Building and take in a show of the Radio City Rockettes, all while playing and singing in concerts each night along the way. While the 40 or so high school kids were off to “host homes” each night, the chaperones and choir moms were busy washing loads of laundry, sorting and ironing our uniforms, rationing out each day’s travel expenses, and trying to grab a few hours of sleep prior to the next day’s journey. Quite an experience for a small-town girl from Soham, England.

But Mom was never frail and would muster-up the necessary courage to take on any challenge. When her younger sister was getting married, Mom decided to take the two of us, ages 6 and 4, by train across the United States to Chicago, and then board a plane to England. Our Aunt Beryl was surprised and very happy to see her sister there for her wedding. We enjoyed our time in England, where we took quiet walks and learned to ride a bike around the countryside. It was a simpler time and place. After our time there, Mom reversed the route, again with two little children in tow, across the ocean and land, to arrive back home in Boise, Idaho. That may not seem like a big challenge by today’s standards, but back in 1960, for a single woman with two little kids, it was immense!

Mom loved kids and employed that love to start her own city and state licensed daycare in her home. During the many years of daycare, she had dozens and dozens of kids who enjoyed their time with Mom. And even after they left, they often returned to spend time with Mom…sometimes many years later when they were grown and married. There were countless faces of school pictures hanging on her kitchen refrigerator, a true testament to the many lives she touched.

And while Mom always loved her children, she may have adored her grandchildren even more. To them, and to all the daycare children as well, she wasn’t just Mom...she was Nana. Nana had six grandkids—Angela (Patrick) Coyne, Tonia Bischoff, Brianna (Justin) Guzman, Scotty Youngblood, Kirsten (Taylor) Combo, and Tori Bischoff—and treasured every moment with her seven great-grandchildren, Peyton, Siena, Landon, Kian, Braden, Rowan, and two-month-old Hayden. Mom felt so blessed to get a chance to see her youngest grandchild before she left.

A very dear friend recently shared that she wanted to get to know our mom through these words and tribute. To sum up a person’s 92 years of living in a few brief paragraphs is a daunting task at best. But in reading many of Mom’s notes and journals, and in recalling many of the fun stories and anecdotes from her life, it became abundantly clear that Mom lived a simple life, always having a smile on her face and giving thanks for everything around her. She was a fervent prayer warrior. She prayed unceasingly, not only for her family and friends, but for those she just met and touched her life. She gave thanks and praise for all the many wonders and blessings she received, from the beautiful flowers and early buds of spring to the beautiful blue skies and warmth of summer. She gave thanks for the clean fragrant smells after a much-needed summer rain, or the crisp Autumn colors each fall. She felt the peace and quiet of a new winter snow, cozying up next to a warm fire for warmth and reflection.

Mom lived her life in accordance with Micah 6:8, “to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with her God.” Mom was a woman of resilience, warmth, and humor, whose love and guidance shaped the lives of those around her. She will be deeply missed but forever cherished in the hearts of her family and friends.

We love you Miss Phyllis…we love you Mom...we love you, Nana!

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