Elnor R. Phibbs (81) of Effingham

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Published on April 2 2019 4:06 pm

Elnor Ruth Phibbs of Effingham, Illinois passed away suddenly on Tuesday, April 2nd at 2:15 a.m. at HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital, Effingham.

Elnor was born Saturday, August 28, 1937 in the Bethlehem Community of Altamont, IL to Reinhart and Lydia (Yagow) Brauer. She attended Bethlehem Lutheran Parochial School, Altamont High School and Eastern Illinois University where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education. She later earned a Masters Degree in Child Psychology. Elnor taught in elementary schools in St. Elmo and Bensonville, Illinois. She later joined an overseas program where she taught the children at U.S. Air Force bases in Okinawa and then in Germany where she spent 15 years teaching in Wiesbaden and Kaiserslautern, Germany.

In Germany, she met her husband, Kenneth Phibbs, who worked for the National Security Administration. They were married on July 31, 1976 at the cathedral in Bern, Switzerland. They transferred back to the states and resided in Severna Park, Maryland for nearly 40 years. After the death of her husband, Elnor moved back to Illinois to be closer to family and friends, and had been residing at Brookstone Estates, Effingham since April of 2018. She was a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Effingham.

Elnor was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and infant twin sisters. She is survived by her brother, Norbert Brauer and his wife Mary, Altamont, her step-daughters Dianne Atkins, Silver Springs, Maryland and Pat Rizzuto, Alexandria, Virginia, her niece Laura Brauer of Champaign, Illinois, and her nephew Eric Brauer of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Sunday, April 7 at Gieseking Funeral Home, Altamont and for one hour prior to service time at the church. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, rural Altamont with Rev. Gary Fortkamp officiating. Burial will follow at the church cemetery. Memorials may be to the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Organ Fund or Altamont Lutheran Interparish Schools.

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