News

By Emily J. Minor

    OCEAN RIDGE — Phyllis Anderson Callaway, a Midwestern-born mother of three who grasped the importance of women’s issues early on and never let go, eventually turning her earnest volunteer work into an impressive resume of causes and accomplishments, has died after a seven-year fight with breast cancer. She was 80.
    Born in South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 22, 1936, Mrs. Callaway died on Oct. 30, 12 years to the day after the death of her husband of 40 years, Trowbridge “Toby” Callaway III.
    Raised by her single mother, Althea Trent — described by one granddaughter as a woman of “strength and charisma” — Mrs. Callaway attended John Adams High School and Ball State University. She moved to Chicago, where she worked for a prominent market research firm, then on to Seattle to work at the 1962 World’s Fair.
    In 1968, she married Mr. Callaway after meeting him on a blind date back in Chicago.
    A social activist before most of the other mothers on the block, Mrs. Callaway worked in the late 1960s and early 1970s to support the programs and missives of Planned Parenthood, said her daughters.
    “It just seemed that she always looked out for the well-being of women,” said Leslie Anne Callaway, who lives in Delray Beach.
    Another daughter, Susan Callaway Stein, of Chattanooga, Tenn., said their mother’s social convictions made for some interesting dinner times. “We grew up in a pretty conservative family,” Stein said. “But my mom had progressive ideas and she shared them with us.”
    Her mother, Stein said, spoke freely about issues like pregnancy and birth control, and taught her daughters and others to lift the shame from these personal decisions, Stein said.
    “Once the shame was gone, she felt you could deal with the issues that matter,” Stein said.
    Before her husband’s job brought the family to Delray Beach in 1979, Mrs. Callaway also served on the board of the Gorton Community Center in Lake Forest, Ill., and on the Women’s Board of the Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill.
    In Florida, missing the more quintessential neighborhoods full of kids and stay-at-home moms, Mrs. Callaway quickly immersed herself in more volunteer work, her daughters said.
    Mrs. Callaway began by giving time to the kids’ school. Eventually her expanding list of causes became “a fabric of the community,” Stein remembered.
    Her community devotions included: Wayside House (1991-2008); Old School Square (1996-2002); and she was on the board of trustees of Gulf Stream School (1982-1991). At the school, she organized and served as the first president of the Parents’ Auxiliary.
    Mrs. Callaway was also named a Bethesda Hospital Foundation Woman of Grace in 2003.
    In addition to her two daughters, Mrs. Callaway is survived by a son, William Trowbridge Callaway, and his wife, Lynn, of Yardley, Pa. Three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren also survive her.
    Gifts in her memory can be given to Gulf Stream School, 3600 Gulf Stream Road, Gulf Stream, FL 33483 or Wayside House, 378 NE Sixth Ave., Delray Beach, FL 33483. Mrs. Callaway’s services were Nov. 12, and a reception followed at the Gulf Stream Bath and Tennis Club.