Phyllis Fairchild

Phyllis Jean Fairchild, 89, born 08-16-1931, passed away 01-15-2021

She passed away peacefully at Hope West Hospice, with her son Rob by her side. As a family we were thankful he was able to be with her considering COVID restrictions.

Phyllis was born in Lyons, Kansas to Naomi and Lawrence Evans. She is proceeded in death by her mother and father, her son Bryan, two older sisters, Lois Shaffer and Betty Unruh, she has one living sister, Rose Davis of Lyons, Kansas. Her sisters were her best friends growing up, they didn’t have much but that didn’t keep them from having fun and making the best of what they did have. Even as adults and many miles between them they remained best friends, talking frequently on the phone and supporting one another.
Phyllis married Bob Fairchild on September 17 , 1947, she was 16 and he was 19. They were married 70 years beforeBob passed away in 2018. They had three sons: Rob born 1951, Randy in 1954 who died at birth, and Bryan in 1956 who died in 2008.

Bob and Phyllis moved to Rangely, CO in 1959 from Great Bend, Kansas. They built a home in 1964 west of Rangely. Phyllis continued to live there even after Bob passed in 2018. she had five grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, two daughter-in-laws Brenda Halcomb (married to Rob) and Alisa Warren (married to Bryan).

Phyllis worked for many years at the Rangely College Snack Bar with her good friend Linda Cox. She loved her job and socializing with all the young college kids and the people who came there to eat, she would say working at that job gave her independence her own identity, even though it wasn’t until after Bob died the she learned to pump her on gas. She was no longer just a wife and mom but her own person doing something she loved.

She loved her house up on the hill that overlooks Rangely. She knew she had one of the best views in town and she loved reading her devotions on the patio in the mornings. Sitting on the porch swing with Bob watching the birds and sometimes the deer that were in the fields below by the river. There were many memories made in that front yard with her sons playing with their friends.

She just wasn’t your ordinary Grandma, she was a grandma who played like a little kid with her grandchildren, she colored with them, played games, read to them all the time, and made special pancakes for breakfast when they spent the night which made Grandpa happy. She would tell her grandchildren they weren’t spoiled they were just loved. She would try to comfort her some of the children when they were young and were afraid of the dark by saying ”It's not the dark you're afraid of, it's what's in the dark”. No one understood those words of wisdom, but it made the family laugh.

She was a mother who followed all of her sons sporting events, she was either driving a car load of boys to games or following the school bus. She was their biggest cheerleader getting so excited she sometimes would make a spectacle of her self, whistling and screaming louder than anyone else. There weren’t too many families who could compete with with her enthusiasm. She was small but mighty.

Some of her favorite things were listening to 50s and 60s music, playing pinochle and marble board with her family, she was competitive and did not like losing. Phyllis loved to read western books, watch westerns on TV. Walker Texas Ranger was her favorite that would be because of Chuck Norris! Later in life she loved baking sugar cookies for the people she loved and she baked many dozens. She exercised 5 to 6 days a week on her Chuck Norris total gym, she rode an exercise bike and ran on her tread mill until she got this nasty cancer.

She and her husband Bob were members of the Rangely Christian Church for years where they had many friends and where they took their two boys to church.

Her sister Rose says “My sister and I had a close bond growing up. Since she was four years older she was the protective boss of me. Later in life we both accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and He became the Boss of both of us!" Love you, and know this "dreaded relief" has been passed into the Hands of Jesus. I just wish I could've told her good night as she always did me at the end of our phone conversations.”

She has always loved Rangely and wants to be buried next to the love of her life, Bob. We all will miss her but we know she is in Gods hands and with all those she loved that have gone before her. Now she will be waiting to greet us when it is our time to go and be with God. Phyllis may have been small but she was fierce and her faith could move mountains. She is one of Jesus’s biggest fans and I’m sure she is one of his beloved souls!! Phyllis had a beautiful heart, a cheerful soul, and as she always said in parting: “Make it a Great Day it's a Gift from God”.

Graveside services will be held Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 12:00 noon at the Rangely City Cemetery.  Friends and family may gather for a viewing and visitation at the Rangely Christian Church starting at 11:00 am before traveling to the cemetery for services.  Services are entrusted to the Blackburn and Sons Vernal Mortuary.