Phyllis Jean Swartzbaugh

Phyllis Jean Swartzbaugh, age 83, of New Philadelphia, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, January 24, 2010, following a courageous 18 year battle with Thyroid Cancer.A daughter of the late Jacob Edward and Bessie Mae (Harbaugh) Storck, Phyllis was born at Fiat, Ohio on August 20, 1926.As a 1944 graduate of New Philadelphia High School, Phyllis would go on to obtain her Nursing Degree from Akron General Hospital School of Nursing in 1948. For the next sixty years, Phyllis would use her love and compassion for others in the nursing field and would work for Union Hospital at Dover, a number of area doctor’s offices, and would serve as the school nurse for Sacred Heart Elementary School. She would complete her career at the age of 80 ultimately retiring from the New Philadelphia City Health Department. Throughout her career, Phyllis enjoyed helping friends and neighbors through medical issues and also found great peace as she made frequent and extensive traveling trips throughout Europe which included the Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. These trips often turned out to be mission trips in which Phyllis would help in area hospitals and orphanages and would often leave many of her supplies and handmade church blankets behind.Her traveling adventures did not stop there, however. For a number of years Phyllis would spend one month a year traveling to Hawaii with her cousin and good friend, Betty Eberhardt.In her spare time, Phyllis enjoyed reading but cherished the time spent with her grandchildren as she watched them grow up taking them to music lessons and attending ball games. As the children grew older she enjoyed hosting pool parties with her grandchildren and their friends at her New Philadelphia home. She even found companionship with her adopted rabbit, Oreo.Phyllis found great joy in the fellowship of her church family. As a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ at New Philadelphia, Phyllis was active as a member of the Ruth Circle, Young at Heart Group and the sewing club. She also served as a deaconess and would volunteer for the annual Summer Bible School Program. Phyllis will be missed by her family which includes a daughter, Judith (Timothy) Tornabene of New Philadelphia; a son, Steven (Betty) Swartzbaugh of Sugarcreek; a sister-in-law, Janice Storck of New Philadelphia; and a brother-in-law, Joe Nagy of Florida.Three grandchildren, Gretta (Robert) Patrick, Marita Tornabene, and Ernie Tornabene; a great-granddaughter, Cora Rose Patrick as well as numerous nieces, nephews, close friends and neighbors complete the family.In addition to her parents, Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband, Robert E. Swartzbaugh, whom she celebrated 37 years of marriage with prior to his passing in October of 1987, and a brother, Robert Storck.The family will receive friends on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, from 4:00 â?? 7:00 PM, in the Linn-Hert-Geib Funeral Home & Crematory at New Philadelphia. Pastors Jeffrey Gerber and Jill Lovett will lead a service celebrating Phyllis’s life in the First United Church of Christ on Thursday, January 28, 2010, at 9:30 AM. Burial alongside her husband will follow in the East Avenue Cemetery at New Philadelphia.The family wishes to express a most sincere thank you to Doctors Siperstein and Faiman as well as Nurse Cindy and countless other members of the Cleveland Clinic Staff for their excellent care and compassion for the past eighteen years.Those wishing to do so may direct memorial contributions in Phyllis’s name to the First United Church of Christ, PO BOX 422, New Philadelphia Ohio, 44663 or to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, PO BOX 931517, Cleveland, Ohio 44193-1655.