Phyllis Irene Baekgaard died peacefully at Sonora Regional Medical Center on April 24, 2014 after a brief illness. She was 85. Phyllis was a gentle, kind, loving, free spirit, a generous, devoted wife, mother, grandmother and social service steward.
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she was the daughter of the late Dr. George Sylva Carreiro and Genee Mignon Nagy, who put her on a ship to San Franciso when she was 14 to save her from the anticipated Pearl Harbor bombings.
The ship ran for weeks without any lights to avoid being spotted. Eventually she was reunited with her parents in California.
She attended Mills College in Oakland and UC Berkeley where she was recruited to work in the American Embassy in Denmark where she met her late husband Peer E. Baekgaard and then settled in Winnetka, Illlinois.
She is survived by their 4 children: P. Erik Baekgaard, Heidi (Patrick) Bornman, Kaaren (Jimy) Sherell, Siri (Rich) Gilpin and grandchildren Brice and Morgan Gilpin.
At 50 years old, she went back to college where she was the oldest student in her classes and was proud to receive her Bachelor of Arts degree in social Services at the National College of Education in Evanston, Illinois.
Phillis moved to Sonoma in 1991 to be close to her children. In 2001 she married Thomas N. McCracken and moved to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas.
He passed away in 2005 and she moved back to her second home in Murphys.
Phyllis always wanted to help people and never quit. while raising her family, working in the family business, Baekgaard LTD and singing and performing for the Wilmette, Illinois North Shore Harmonizers, she started the Winnetka Food Bank and continued to volunteer or donate to a food bank wherever she lived.
She worked at crisis, care and imigrants aid centers, volunteered for Red Cross, was a certified nursing assistant, tutored and her favorite was working at Hanna Boys Center in Sonoma.
At 83 she completed training and became a volunteer Senior Peer Counselor for Calaveras County and was a counselor until her death.
A memorial service will be held on November 8, 2014 at Mountain Christian Fellowship, 3488 E. Hwy 4 in Murphys, CA 95247. A service listing with details will be published closer to that time.
Donations of food or money can be made at: The Resource connection Food Bank 206 George Reed Drive in San Andreas, CA 95249-1656 or ailing address PO Box 1656 San Andreas, CA 95249-1656.
Angels Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
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