Phyllis Paulson passed away peacefully of natural causes on Wednesday February 16, 2022, in her apartment in Mequon, WI.

Phyllis Ann Sweet was born to Mike and Naomi Sweet December 28, 1928, along with a twin brother in Central City, Iowa.  She was the oldest daughter of eight children.   Since she grew up during the depression with parents who worked full time, caring for her younger siblings fell to Phyllis.  She became an excellent cook, possibly from her early experience.  She also passed her love of cooking on to both of her children Pam and Cris.

She was married on July 4, 1947, to B. Roscoe Paulson.  He preceded her in death in 2001.  They moved to Des Moines a few years after their marriage and lived in Des Moines or West Des Moines until Phyllis moved to Wisconsin to be near her daughter in 2020.

As Phyllis needed some extra help dealing with the difficulties of navigating life at age 93, she was fortunate to have a team of loving and supporting caregivers look after her.  They often commented about her independence.  This was not a recent development.  When her children were safely enrolled in elementary school,  she decided it was time for her to test her ability to be independent.  So she went to work as a baker in the lunchroom of North High School in Des Moines in order to have her own money.  She was quite certain her husband wouldn’t want her to do this so she just didn’t tell him until she had successfully worked during the school day, dashed home in time to meet her children and then cook dinner.  Only after she had successfully done this for a while did she share it with her family because they could hardly tell her she couldn’t/ shouldn’t do it since obviously she could.  

Phyllis had several loves.  She loved growing flowers, especially roses. She played high school basketball and enjoyed watching the ISU Cyclones play as well. She loved cooking and baking and being social.  She organized a social lunch group in her neighborhood in West Des Moines and served on the Bereavement Committee (serving food at funerals) at West Des Moines Methodist Church.  She was always happy to host family gathering even when the family was her husband’s or son–in-law’s family.  She was a great seamstress – she even sewed her daughter’s wedding dress.  And was also game to try her daughter’s creations of using bits and pieces from a few different dress patterns to come up with an original design. She loved playing golf (because it was social) and a variety of card games.  She remained competitive until her final days when she bragged to her visiting physician that she was beating her caregiver at Uno.    What she loved most of all was her family.  She helped to feed and care for her husband, Roscoe after he fell victim to Parkinson’s disease, making the daily trek to the health care facility where he resided.    She loved hearing from her kids and grandson regularly, was devastated by the early death of her son, Cris in 2017,  and loved holidays that meant gathering of family. 

Phyllis is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Pam and Jim Layton (Mequon,WI) Grandson Taylor Layton (Milwaukee, WI), sister Margaret Hutton (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and many loved sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews. 

There will be a funeral service for Phyllis on Sunday February 27, 2022 at Mequon United Methodist Church at 2PM with a reception to follow.  There will also be a service at Resthaven Cemetery in West Des Moines, Iowa in the near future when her cremains will be placed next to the remains of husband, Roscoe

Memorial contributions are suggested to Mequon United Methodist Church (11011 North Oriole Lane, Mequon, WI 53092) West Des Moines Methodist Church (720 Grand Ave, West Des Moines, IA 50265) or the Michael J Fox Foundation, PO Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014.