Phyllis Joan Guazdausky, aged 71.9 years, recycled her tired, sick body for an endlessly brand-new model on Friday, July 26, 2024, at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. She fought Death for a month in a bare-knuckle brawl, and knocked him and his scythe silly before she departed the ring on her own terms.

"John, I am in labor," Bonnie Guazdausky told her husband John Guazdausky on August 3, 1952. "No, you're not," John replied, engrossed in the ballgame between his beloved New York Yankees and the St. Louis Browns. "You just think you are because Mary Alice [Benedict] is in labor right now." (Mary Alice being Bonnie's best friend.) John reluctantly left the ballgame in late innings once the Yankees' victory was assured and transported an irritated Bonnie to St. Mary's Hospital where she gave birth to Phyllis Joan.

Phyllis grew up in Adamson, Oklahoma, where she and Mary Alice Benedict's August 3rd baby, Janell Kay, were either the darlings of or terrors of their neighborhood, depending on the audience. Phyllis graduated Wilburton High School in 1970 and married fellow Digger Teddy Evicks in 1971. Teddy and Phyllis welcomed four children during their marriage. Each child was her favorite child.

At the young age of 47, Phyllis earned her Registered Nurse certification. She spent the next decade-plus showing those young nurses how nursing was done before she retired from the Choctaw Health Center. Even in retirement, Phyllis continued to nurse every two- and four-legged critter in need.

Phyllis' lifelong dream of becoming a grandparent was realized when she became Nana to five impossibly fantastic grandchildren she never got to see often enough.

Phyllis was happiest when she was surrounded by the noise, chaos, and love of her children, their partners, her grandchildren, and her animals. It was not unusual at all to enter her home and see two orphaned baby goats lounging in the living room. If it was small and it cried, Phyllis loved it.

Late in her life, Phyllis found love again and became engaged to Thomas Wartick. The last years of her life were happily spent on their farm, caring for their animal menagerie.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents, John and Bonnie, and her brother, Dean Sprouse. She is survived by her fiancé, Tom, of the home; her children Tia Carlton (Brian), Amy Mattingly (Lance Stachnik), Awna Evicks (Randy Alexander), and John Kyle Evicks (Alicia); her grandchildren AC Carlton (Johanna Masterson), Brian Daniel Carlton (Rylee), Owen Evicks, Levi Evicks, and Lucy Evicks; her nephew Robert Sprouse (Sandi); her beloved Corgi, Myf; her squad, the Magnolia Girls: Janell Kay Benedict-Sirmans, Debi Beck, Linda Faber, and Vicki Lopez Duncan; her dear neighbor and friend Martha Karther; and an infinite number of the instant friends Phyllis made in her life.

Any omissions are the unintentional errors of Phyllis' daughter, Tia, who wonders how a life such as her Mama's could possibly be summed up in 400 words or fewer.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held for Phyllis at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (102 Center Point Road, Wilburton, OK), at 10:00 am on Saturday, August 17, 2024. Father Bryan Ketterer will preside. Interment will follow at the Holy Rosary Cemetery (1307 N 9th ST, Hartshorne, OK). An informal, come-and-go memorial will follow the burial, and will be held at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church Parish Hall. A meal will be provided. Please come to the memorial and share your memories and photos and funny stories about Phyllis. She would want laughter on this day, and we do, too.

Special thanks to Mrs. Ruth Harkins, of Jones-Harkins Funeral Home, for the arrangements, and to the care staff of the Aortic Valve Center, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.

In honor of Phyllis, and in lieu of flowers, please instead donate to your local food pantry or animal shelter, hug your children and grandchildren, forgive a hurt, and mop your floors.