Phyllis Lee LaCourse's Obituary
On Saturday, July 1, 2023, Phyllis Lee LaCourse passed away peacefully at age 77. Phyllis was born on August 2, 1945, at the old Walter Reed Army hospital in Washington, DC, to her devoted parents, Peter Franklin Dantone and Lucy Cordelia Dantone (nee Kitzman), She graduated from Delavan-Darien High School. She married Edward David LaCourse II and they had three children: Lisa Marie LaCourse (married to Brian Cronin), Peter David LaCourse (married to Lindsay Michelle LaCourse), and Stacy Joanne LaCourse.
After getting divorced, Phyllis went on to earn two undergraduate degrees in business and social work at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a Masters in Social Work at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her career included selling life insurance and working with the elderly at nursing homes in Berlin, WI, and at Bethel Home in Oshkosh plus the criminally mentally ill at Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
Her life had been greatly impacted by contracting polio at age 3. After 13 surgeries over 10 years, she was able to walk, and her spirit was driven by a fierce independence and strength. As a single working mom, she never missed a game or a concert or musical or other activities of her children. Her life was enriched by decades of bridge group and book club, quilting, cross-stitch, beading, and her love of the Milwaukee Brewers (she liked the Packers and Bucks, too). She loved her pets including Fluffy, Bueller, Figaro, and Pepe (who was with her till the end).
Phyllis was a loyal friend and her absolute joy was her grandchildren. Although during the final few years of her life she couldn’t walk and her strength started to fail due to Post Polio Syndrome, she was able to live independently thanks to her devoted children especially Stacy and then a team of home health aides.
She is survived by her three children, son-in-law and daughter-in-law, her grandchildren Lucy Marie Cronin with her girlfriend Yisbely Torres, Julia Stacy Cronin, Christopher Paul Brockert-LaCourse, and Claire Lydia Brockert-LaCourse, her nephew Keith Maurer and his wife Jean Maurer, her niece Susan Maurer and her life partner Connie James, and numerous Kitzman cousins and one aunt. Phyllis will be missed so dearly and her spirit lives on in her family.
While Mom/Gramma Phyllis loved flowers, if you want to remember her in another way, the family suggests donations in her memory to either Oshkosh Humane Society or Post Polio Health International. Phyllis will be buried in a private family ceremony at St. Andrew’s Cemetery in Delavan, WI, next to her parents.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday July 7, at 11:30 AM in St. Raphaels Catholic Church in Oshkosh. Burial will be in Delavan WI. Family and friends may call at the church on Friday from 9:30 AM until the hour of services.
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