Phyllis Jeannette (Handlen) Bloss

Phyllis Jeannette (Handlen) Bloss

Phyllis Jeannette (Handlen) Bloss, 88, Hays, died Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at Via Christi Village.

She was born March 29, 1929 in rural Pottawattamie County, Iowa, to Helen Mettalena Julius and Vere Parish Handlen.  She attended rural grade schools and graduated in 1946 from Underwood High School, Underwood, Iowa.  She attended Iowa State Teachers College and taught for two years in Hancock, Iowa.

On August 20, 1949 she was united in marriage to Donald R. Bloss at the Methodist Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa.  He preceded her in death on July 7, 2013.  In 1949-50 she taught third grade in Story City, Iowa.  She also taught for three years in Plover, Iowa and for three years in Davenport, Iowa retiring in 1960, when her son James Ralph Bloss was born.  She and Don adopted Jeannine Lyn Bloss in Dubuque, Iowa.  Phyllis completed her B.A. degree in Elementary Education in 1959 from Iowa State Teachers College and an M.S. degree in Elementary Education in 1974 from Fort Hays State University.

After living two years in Columbia, Missouri, the family moved to Hays, Kansas in 1970, where Don was a Professor of Counseling at Fort Hays State University.  The family joined the First United Methodist Church, Hays.  Phyllis was a homemaker and volunteer in the Hays Medical Center Auxiliary, and she belonged to the United Methodist Women, the Humane Society of the High Plains, Centennial Club, and Eastern Star. 

Survivors include her son; James Bloss and wife Marie of McKinney, TX, her daughter; Jeannine Bloss of Hays, a brother; Tom Handlen and wife Opal of Davenport, IA, a sister; Alice Beach of Omaha, NE, six grandchildren; Brendan, Aaron, Kirsten, Caitlin, Rachael, and Alexis and four great grandchildren; Antonia, Raphael, Ivan and Elrik. 

She was preceded in death by her parents, Vere Parish Handlen and Helen Mettalina Julius and her husband, Donald Ralph Bloss. 

A celebration of Phyllis’s life will be at 11:00 am on Friday, February 23, 2018 at the First United Methodist Church, 305 W. 7th Street, Hays with Rev. Michael Rose officiating, following a private family burial at Mount Allen Cemetery.  Family will receive friends from 10:30 am until 11:00 on Friday at the church.

Phyllis desired that in lieu of flowers, memorials be given to the First United Methodist Church or to the Humane Society of the High Plains in care of the Hays Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 1906 Pine Street, Hays.  Condolences may be left for the family at www.haysmemorial.com

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