Phyllis Yvonne Talas

Age 68, of Flint, passed away Friday, February 16, 2024, at McLaren Flint with her family by her side. In accordance with Phyllis’ wishes, cremation has taken place. There are no further services scheduled at this time. Expressions of sympathy may be placed on Phyllis’ tribute wall at martinfuneralhome.com.

Phyllis was born in Empire, Michigan, on July 11, 1955, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald and Beulah (Moore) Mitchell. Educated in Alaska, Phyllis attended East High in Anchorage and graduated with the Class of 1974. Phyllis met and married the love of her life, Frank Talas, on February 2, 1974. Phyllis worked as a Switch Board Operator for the Department of Defense until her retirement in 2019. Phyllis started working for the DOD due to being placed under a handicapped program working for 59 Signal as a telephone operator. She also worked for the Corps of Engineers for the Office of Environmental Cleanup Sites for the DOD and then went back to being a telephone operator. After her 20 years there, she went to work for the United States Army JBER Library in Fort Richardson, where she worked for 10 years. She instituted a program to help children learn to read, called PAWS to Read which she ran for 5 years. She received awards from the Air Force for the PAWS program. The program brought in children, up to the age of 12, to help them learn to read and comprehend. The program entailed having service dogs and therapy dogs as well as emotional support animals. She received an award from former First Lady, Melania Trump, and was told it was one of the best help-teach-to-read programs that she had seen in the country. In her free time, Phyllis enjoyed crocheting and every Friday night, she enjoyed playing World of Warcraft video games with her husband where she acquired an online family playing the game that she still talks to to this day. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother and will be dearly missed.

Left to cherish Phyllis' memory are her beloved husband of 50 years, Frank Talas; children: Paulette Erickson, Scott and wife, Elizabeth Talas; grandchildren: Amanda, Austin, Aaron, Elysia, Malakai, Adarah, Tristan, Elanor, Blue, Cassandra, Franklin, III; great-grandchildren: Nicholas, Elliott; sister, Donna Ambe-Ramsey; several other family and friends.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents.