Millbrook, NY – Phyllis Davison Teasdale died Saturday, September 10, at her home at The Fountains following a brief illness. She was 93 years old. Born November 3, 1922 in Poughkeepsie, the daughter of Dr. Chester O. and Mary Jeanette “Jean” (Watts) Davison, Mrs. Teasdale was a lifelong Poughkeepsie resident, a teacher in the Arlington School District, at Dutchess Community College, SUNY New Paltz and Vassar College, a world traveler and a prolific poet of rhyming verse.
She graduated from Arlington High School in 1939 and from Vassar College in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature. In 1941 and 1943 she studied at the University of Mexico. She later studied at Columbia University Teachers College and the University of Madrid. She earned her master’s degree from Vassar in 1967.
Between 1943 and 1958 she taught Spanish to adults in the Arlington and Poughkeepsie districts and in 1957 she inaugurated FLES foreign language program at the Raymond Avenue Elementary School. In 1961 she began what became a 20-year career teaching Spanish at the Arlington Junior and Senior High Schools. Her tenure at Arlington coincided with the introduction of “language lab” audio equipment for use in junior high classes. For some of her younger students the novelty of earphones and microphones provided opportunities for mischief, although “Señora Teasdale,” as students knew her, managed to keep most of her charges focused on the task of learning a second language.
Mrs. Teasdale was an active member of the AAUW, Junior League and the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ Poughkeepsie, and was a volunteer guide Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College. Also she served as a volunteer translator for Spanish-speaking defendants held at the Dutchess County Jail.
In 1944 she married Maj. John Moffett Teasdale in Poughkeepsie. He died in 1973. She is survived by a daughter, Holly Teasdale Brunelli of Raymond, NH, Parry Teasdale (Carol Vontobel) of Chatham, NY, and Christopher Teasdale (Katy Roberts) of Califon, NJ, six grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Her sister, Katherine Jean Davison Moore, died previously.
After retiring from teaching she traveled frequently, eventually visiting at least 25 different countries on five continents. At home she participated in 2010 in the Casperkill Watershed Oral History Project, an initiative of the Vassar College Environmental Research Institute and Environmental Studies Program. The interview with her and Chris Teasdale is online at http://pages.vassar.edu/casperkill/phyllis-and-chris-teasdale-of-boardman-road/ .
She also wrote original poems for public occasions and private events, like birthdays and holiday gatherings. The verse, which she could sometimes recite from memory as her eyesight failed in later years, was specific to the topic and accessible to all listeners. Among her notes was one typical example:
Arthur-itis, Rheumatiz
– no matter what your ailment is –
hiccups, rashes, flashes-hot
be glad for what you haven’t got!
At her direction there will be a “Celebration of Life” memorial service on a date as yet undetermined. Donations in her memory can be sent to Planned Parenthood.
