Obituary of Janet C. Phillips

Janet C. Phillips died on Friday, January 24, 2020 at home. She was 86 years old. Jan was born on April 29, 1933, in Pittsfield, Illinois, the daughter of Catherine Wills Biddle and Eldred Biddle. She is survived by her husband, David; two sons, Clay (Melanie) of State College, PA, and Sean (Heidi) in Cape Coral, FL; a granddaughter, Michelle of State College, PA; and two great grandsons, Christos and Nikos. Jan received a BS in Journalism from the University of Illinois in 1954. She married David Phillips on February 7, 1954. For 20 years, Jan was Executive Secretary of the Association of American Library Schools, which included institutional and individual members from the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. In addition to normal office duties, her job entailed conference planning and execution. She oversaw professional conferences in more than 15 major metropolitan hotels in cities that included New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, and San Antonio, among others. She very much enjoyed the opportunity to travel and to interact with the library educators who attended the conferences. She also was responsible for publishing more than 150 issues of the Associations scholarly academic journal. Working in conjunction with academic content editors, her duties ranged from copy editing and content checking to correcting galley proofs and paying the bills. After retirement, Jan spent seven years as Administrative Director of the Interlibrary Delivery Service of Pennsylvania, a consortium with more than 650 members and affiliates. Jan was an avid supporter of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. For nearly 50 years, she took over the Festival office so staff could trouble-shoot the Festival grounds. Her name tag read General Jan. Upon her second retirement, she looked forward to an annual cruise with her husband and a group of friends. Throughout her life, she was an avid stitcher and also enjoyed making her own clothes. Services will be private. Friends of Jan will gather from 2pm-4pm at the Pines at Juniper Village (1940 Cliffside Drive) on Sunday, February 2, 2020. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, 403 S Allen St. #205a, State College, PA 16801. Arrangements are under the care of Koch Funeral Home, State College. Online condolences and signing of the guest book may be entered at www.kochfuneralhome.com