Phyllis Stoll

Thanks be to God for the 83 years of life He gave to our precious Phyllis!

Phyllis Bernice Stoll was a gift from God.  Born on the 18th of March, 1939, to parents Ares Conradus (Arthur Conrad) and Alice Peternella (Wodring) Dreyer, in a Dutch community on the South Side of Chicago, she was the fifth member of her family, joining older brothers Arthur James and Conrad Duane.  She passed away at home on Wednesday, July 27, around 1:00 p.m.  In her final hours, she was surrounded by family and friends who loved her dearly and who sang songs of faith, shared testimonies as to the blessing that Phyllis had been in their lives, read about the holy city (the new Jerusalem) from Revelation 21, and prayed.  As the precious words of the song "I Bowed On My Knees and Cried 'Holy'" filled the room, she opened her eyes for the last time; and the Lord called her into His presence.

Phyllis lived the first 57 years of her life in the Chicago area, setting aside her desire to have a career in nursing to marry the love of her life, Henry Stoll, of Alsip, Illinois, in May of 1957.  Their home was filled with the fighting of the last two of their three girls and the activity and laughter of all three of them – Nancy (Harper), Lorraine, and Shirley.  A housewife until Henry’s sudden death at the age of 42, in 1976, Phyllis took over her husband’s business, managing industrial properties until she retired to Waynesville, North Carolina, in 1997.  During her lifetime, she taught Sunday School and Calvinettes (a Christ-centered girls ministry), smuggled Bibles to the underground church in China, helped the underprivileged on many medical mission trips, served on the Alsip Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the Canton Lions Club.  She loved serving the Lord and was a faithful steward who joyously and generously shared the bountiful blessings of God.  She loved life and lived it to its fullest.

In addition to her brother Conrad and her three daughters, Phyllis is survived by four grandchildren (William Donald Harper III, Lisa Marie Smith, Rebecca Jean Seymour, and Timothy James Harper) and several great grandchildren.

A service to celebrate Phyllis’s life will be held at Calvary Road Baptist Church on Saturday, July 30.  Viewing will take place from 2:30 - 4:00 p.m., and a Celebration of Life will begin at 4:00 p.m.  A catered reception will follow the service.  Phyllis’s ashes will be laid to rest in a family plot in Illinois at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Calvary Road Baptist Church, 2701 Soco Road, Maggie Valley, NC 28751.

The care of Mrs. Stoll has been entrusted to Wells Funeral Home of Waynesville.