Phyllis Ruth Dye

Phyllis Ruth Dye, 93, of Denver, CO, passed away Thursday, January 18, 2024, at Advent Porter Hospital in Denver. She was born in Hastings, NE, on August 16, 1930, to John "Jack" Rhodes and Hazel Hendrickson Hanley. She married William L. "Bill" Dye on June 8, 1947, at the Julesburg Christian Church. To this union, five children were born. They lived in Julesburg, CO, until retirement, when they moved to Tucson,AZ. When Bill's health began to decline, they returned to Denver to be closer to family and resided in the Clermont Park retirement community.

Phyllis loved The Lord and loved to spread her joy of Christian fellowship to others. She was a member of the Julesburg Christian Church and the Holy Way Presbyterian Church.

She had a passion for music. She began taking piano lessons when she was six years old and started playing at church when she was nine. She taught private piano and voice lessons for 40 years. In her retirement, she was the accompanist for a 45-voice choral group from several retirement parks. Throughout her entire life, and until her death, she played the piano at church and on many other occasions. During the times that she played, people would often approach her and tell her that they loved how she played and wished they could play the piano, and her response was always, "You can, if you practice."

She enjoyed cooking and wrote a column called "The Kitchen Therapist," which was published in the Julesburg Advocate for many years. In 1997, those recipes were put into a cookbook, the most famous being her sandwich spread which she loved to make for family get togethers.

Phyllis was an avid sports fan. At her home, you could guarantee that sports were playing on her TV or she was listening on the radio. She loved the Colorado Rockies and got to sing the national anthem with her choir group at one of their spring training games. She lived and breathed Nebraska Football her entire life, and she became an Arizona Wildcats fan after moving to Arizona.

Without fail, she was an active and giving person, and that extended after her death as she chose to be a tissue donor.

Phyllis is survived by her children Michael Dye of North Platte, NE, Jim (Lela) Dye of Daytona Beach, FL, Ruth Anne (Dan) Sanger of Tucson, AZ, Jane Dye of Joplin, MO and Tom (Maizie) Dye of Saint Thomas, Jamaica, and many, many grandchildren and great grandchildren, and her special friend Heinz Weimar.

She is preceded in death by her husband Bill, whom she was married to for 65 years, her grandson Chase Dye, great-grandson Davis Dye, her parents, and her brother Neal Hanley.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Christian Living Communities, Phyllis Dye Memorial Donation, Attn-donor Relations, 9570 S. Kingston Ct., Ste. 300, Englewood, CO 80112.

A celebration of life will be held at 3 pm on Friday, January 26, 2024, at Clermont Park, led by Chaplain Kendall Batten-Kalantzis.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at 11 am at the Julesburg Christian Church with Pastor Alan Harris officiating. Interment will be in the Hillside Cemetery.

Condolences may be shared at prairiehillsjulesburg.com <http://prairiehillsjulesburg.com/>, where the services will be streamed live

Prairie Hills Funeral Home of Julesburg is in charge of arrangements.