Phyllis J. Sidwell

Phyllis Jeutter Sidwell

Born February 15, 1927 and died on August 21, 2022, Phyllis was the daughter of Howard Jeutter and Arlene Hoyt Jeutter, of Bradford, PA, and was an active participant in life. She said that growing up in a small town gave her values that were useful throughout a life of family moves and international travel. Her father was a principal in the Jeutter Brothers Oil Company, in the days when Pennsylvania was a major oil producer. An accomplished musician as a child, Phyllis played the organ in her church as a teenager.  Although accepted by the Eastman School of Music, her head was turned by Bill Sidwell, who “courted” her at a tennis court on Chautauqua Lake, where her parents had their summer home. Bill worked for Boeing when they were married. Phyllis credited her mother’s habit of playing broadcasts of the Texaco Opera Theater on the radio every week with her love of opera. This love led to her being a board member and officer of the Pittsburgh Opera Theater, now called the Pittsburgh Festival Opera. In addition, she was an active participant in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It was not unusual for her to host conductors and artists at her home while they appeared in operas and symphonies. Her home was the site of many dinners and gatherings for their benefit.

Starting married life in Buffalo, the couple moved to Chicago, where they raised their family for the next twenty eight years. While raising their three sons, Jeff, Craig, and Brad,  Phyllis served as President of the Prairie Service Club of Chicago, and as a docent at the Chicago Museum of Natural History. The couple moved to Madrid, Spain for three years, returning to Chicago, and finally moving to Pittsburgh, Bill Sidwell’s birthplace, in 1977. While in Madrid, Phyllis travelled all over Europe with her husband.

Mrs. Sidwell was an avid adventure  traveller. With her dear friend, Pamela Stepanian she covered the world:

…To the Soviet Union for three weeks. Lapland, where she acquired a reindeer driver’s license. …The Wolong Panda Reserve in China (a lot of camping and trekking). …Nanda Devi, a mountain in northern India near the Pakistani  border (where, injured, she was evacuated in an Indian Army helicopter). …Papua New Guinea where she had to halt her trek because of a tribal war. …Sikkim, an ancient kingdom, now part of India on a trek led by the wife of Tenzing Norgay, the first Sherpa to summit Everest. …Mustang, an ancient Himalayan kingdom in Nepal, where she had an audience with the Queen. …Myanmar, which had just opened after decades of isolation. …Vietnam, to see where her son, Jeffrey, had served.

Clearly, adventure was her middle name.

Her love of travel, in conjunction with her skills with a camera, resulted in a home covered with beautiful photographs and artifacts. Visitors often commented on her rich décor.

Besides her parents, she was predeceased by her husband C. William Sidwell, her sister, Margaret, her brother, Jerry Jeutter, and her son, Jeff. She is survived by her beloved sons, Craig, and Brad, as well has her nephew, Larry Mead.

Friends will be received at John A. Freyvogel Sons, Inc. 4900 Centre Avenue at Devonshire Street (freyvogelfuneralhome.com) on Saturday from 11:00AM until a funeral Service at 12 Noon. Interment at Homewood Cemetery will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Pittsburgh Festival Opera, or the charity of your choice.

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