My sister Phyllis  died on January 7, 2013. She was the oldest of the three children leaving the  Anita Mayer,  and I surviving. Phylllis was born to Paul and Mary Luvera in Anacortes on  January 29, 1928.   She graduated from Anacortes High School in 1946 with honors and attended the University of Washington where she obtained a degree in English. She  also obtained a teaching certificate from Western Washington University in 1953. She completed a Master of Science degree from Montana State University where she taught. She was married to Charles Ennes. The two of them lived around the world while he served in the military. They moved to Bozeman Montana after his discharge where he the two of them were teaching. They had three gifted daughters, Mary, Martha & Dorothy.  After a divorce, Phyllis moved back to Anacortes. She retired from teaching in 1992.

 She dedicated her life to teaching, writing and community service in the arts and received numerous awards including the Walter A. Brodniak Cultural Award in 2008. She served as Editor and Adviser for many student publications during her career and held many positions with the Washington Alliance for Arts Education. In Fact she was the founding cultural Educational Director of the Anacortes School District and served in that capacity for some twenty years.

Her community achievements were numerous and significant. She received the award of Patron of the Arts for her community contributions to the arts. She also served on the Anacortes Arts  and Crafts Festival Board where she was secretary and Children’s Program Coordinator.  She was involved in the Anacortes Public Library Art Committee and Foundation as well as Anacortes Youth Arts. She served as a judge for the school district art show and volunteered at the Skagit River Poetry Festival to show students how to bind books by hand.  She was a writer of poetry, short stories and family history. In her honor, the Skagit River Poetry Foundation conducts the annual Phyllis L. Ennes Poetry Contest She wrote a book  about our mother, Mary Luvera, favorite  recipes. She edited dad’s books which he typed on an old fashioned typewriter with numerous spelling and other errors she edited and corrected. She wrote a number of small booklets about our family and stories of life.  She  published other books and materials about our family and  preserved family mementos and history. She donated much of this to the Anacortes Historical Museum.

Those are the historical facts, but they don’t reflect that this was a very intelligent and decent human being  who was the mother of  three equally impressive daughters while making extraordinary contributions to the arts and the community. She was also very courageous about her views and wasn’t intimidated when she believed it was important. She was the older sister we went to for advice as  children. She and  Anita, provided the primary care  for mother and dad when our parents grew older. She was the child dad looked to as a leader of the three of the three children and the person mother looked to when  mother needed help. Phyllis was an impressive and unique woman. May she rest in peace.