Phyllis Elaine (Linton, Getty) Yoshida

Phyllis died peacefully at home of renal failure on March 26th, 2020 surrounded by her family.

Phyllis was born on September 16th, 1939 in Shelton, Washington to Irene and Clifford Linton. She graduated from Irene S. Reed High School in Shelton in 1957 and married Patrick Getty in 1958. They moved to Seattle where she worked at Pacific Northwest Bell and then Northwestern Mutual Insurance Company until she got pregnant with her first child. Phyllis and Pat raised 4 children together in the Seattle area.

She was a progressive woman who raised her children to be independent thinkers and was passionate about equal rights. She was among the only parents who voluntarily bussed her kids to other schools in the central area of Seattle as part of the desegregation movement in the 70s. She volunteered for the Seattle School District’s “Rainbow” program promoting racial equality. She brought her daughters to Washington DC in 1989 to participate in a March for Women’s Equality.

Phyllis and Pat divorced in 1979 and Phyllis went to work as an office administrator and also attended Seattle Central Community College, where she loved all her classes and was proud of always getting As. She opened her own business, “Secretarial Service”, providing typesetting, dictation, resumes and other services that were in high demand at the time. She met and married Ronald Yoshida in 1980 and they managed Secretarial Service together.

As times changed, she worked at several companies as the organizer supreme and was the office administrator go-to person. She made friends at the Urban League in Seattle, Oncogene Biometrics, Howard S. Wright, and others. She never comprised her values for her work.

She later bought “Sun Printing” in Renton where she and her daughters, Michelle and Lisa, ran the business together. She retired from her final job at the WA State Department of Corrections in 2011 and she and Ron moved to Sequim where they enjoyed several years of peace and tranquility until failing health for both of them required a move back to the mainland.

Phyllis loved the ocean and brought her kids often to Cannon Beach, Oregon, and we especially remember the Spring breaks and Easter weekends with our extended families. We always got kites in our Easter baskets and we grew up loving the ocean too. She lived her dream with an ocean-front view and ran an ocean-front motel with her friend Marcy in Yahachts, OR, in 1993.

She was a perfectionist and she was crafty. She decorated impeccable Christmas trees and she taught her kids how to wrap perfect gifts. We had a huge holly tree in front of our house where we grew up and it was a pain for everyone except for Mom at Christmastime when she donned her gloves to cut bows for wreaths. She had a way with presenting and arranging food and gifts so that everything looked special. She learned how to arrange flowers in a flower arranging class and was always looking for an interesting vase to display them in. She kept a pair of scissors nearby in case there were flowers that needed fixing.

She loved colors and style and our home growing up was an example of this. Our Dad put up with the brightly colored striped and flowered wallpaper combination she chose for the family room, but the kids loved it. She put all our artwork from school up in the stairway with decoupage…it covered both walls from floor to ceiling. It was super cool. We were always the cutest dressed kids. Later in all our years of crazy hair-dos and outfits, she never judged or laughed or made us feel bad, she just said “that looks cute” when we came home with purple or bleached hair and whatever asymmetrical styles and whatever fad of clothes.

She loved dancing and music. She played accordion and tap-danced as a child, and as an adult enjoyed ballroom dancing and took classes at Arthur Murray for “exercise”. She enjoyed plays and the arts, with her kids and grandkids alike, and encouraged and supported music lessons for all of us too.

She was a caring soul who took care of others throughout her life. In the 90s she moved out of her home to live with a friend and take care of him as he was dying of AIDS. In retirement, she worked on multiple projects donating to the needs of others including perinatal services for struggling mothers and various homeless organizations. You could always find her knitting a hat and putting together necessities for the homeless kits she was continually collecting supplies for.

She lived life on her own terms until the very end, choosing to be taken care of at home instead of continued tests, procedures, and dialysis. She leaves a hole in the hearts of all who knew her, including her doctors and nurses at the UW, who knew her as courageous and funny, and not taking any crap from anyone. She will be remembered for her quick wit and sense of humor and was at her best when someone made her laugh. She will be profoundly missed. Love you always, Mom.

Phyllis is pre-deceased by her daughter, Michelle Getty (2003), and leaves behind her partner of 40 years, Ronald Yoshida, daughters Lisa (Wade) Jackson, Jolynn (Eric) Carpenter, and son Jason (Maria) Getty, grandchildren Erin (Devante) Botello, Dylan Carpenter, Jacob Getty, and great-grandson, Joe Botello, as well as her sister, Shirley Linton Cordova and brother, Eugene (Joe) Linton and countless other friends and relatives.

The family would like to give special thanks to Providence Hospice of Seattle and especially to her hospice nurse, Margaret, who was amazing. The family is also eternally grateful to caregiver and special friend, LuaTonya, and dear friends Brooke and Jim for their love and support all these years and especially these past many months as her health declined.

In honor of Phyllis donations can be made to Providence Hospice of Seattle.  Food Lifeline, or Equal Justice Initiative supporting Racial Justice.

To plant a tree in memory of Phyllis Yoshida, please visit our tribute store.

Share memories and condolences of Phyllis on the Tribute Wall located above.

Arrangements Entrusted to the care of Emmick Family Funeral Home & Cremation Services of West Seattle

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Phyllis Elaine (Linton, Getty) Yoshida, please visit our floral store.