Phyllis Raye Reed

Phyllis Raye Reed, age 87, formerly of Hershey, Nebraska, passed away at Genoa Long Term Care in Genoa, Nebraska surrounded by her family on August 3, 2025.

Phyllis, one of three daughters born to Darrel and June Elliott, in Van Nuys, California, on May 19, 1938. She grew up helping take care of her sisters and working with her Dad building houses. She attended Oxnard High School, joining both the track team and the Junior California Civil Air Patrol. Phyllis’s aunt persuaded her to travel to San Diego to visit her brother-in-law and his friend, Bill. Phyllis met Bill that day and as they say, the rest is history. The couple dated two years and got married June 12, 1956, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Phyllis worked as a psychology tech at a hospital until the couple started a family. That family quickly grew, going on to have eight children. Phyllis loved being a wife and stay-at-home mom, caring for her family and doing child-care for other families. Phyllis spent the early years raising a family, cooking, sewing and reading her bible but later worked as a caregiver in the Sutherland Nursing Home, owning and managing Reeds Landing at Lake McConaughy and a grocery store in Belleville Kansas with her husband, in-home health aide and the Hershey Truck Stop. She loved helping people and visiting with everyone, she never met a stranger.

Phyllis was active in the Hershey community belonging to the United Methodist Women’s group and Legion Women’s Auxiliary, often assisting Bill with Lions Club functions, donating baked goods for fund-raisers and community meals. Her hobbies included bowling league, women’s prayer shawl ministry, word puzzles and attending the kids, grandkids and great-grandkids music and sporting events. Her favorite titles were Mom and Grandma, and she loved her family more than anything. She will be greatly missed.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Bill; her parents, Darrel and June Elliott; in-laws, Oren and Ruby Reed; brothers-in-law, Phil Swain, John Dinning, Reggie, Max and Gary Reed; sisters-in-law, Jackie and Gerry Reed; son-in-law, Daniel Baustian; grandchildren, Isabella Baustian and Eric Nardini; grandson-in-law, John Kalsbeek; and Julie Maske, her youngest child.

Phyllis leaves behind her daughters, Cindy (Reed) Kuroki, and Lucie Reed of Hershey and Helene (John Jugler) Baustian of Fremont; sons, Dominic (Denise) Reed of Sutherland, Darrell (Irma) Reed of St. Francis, KS, Billie (Tammie) Reed of North Platte and Pat (Lorie) Reed of Salina, KS; sisters, Edith (Bert) Tribbey of Clovis, CA and Linda Swain of Wichita, KS; sisters-in-law Patricia Dinning of Courtland, KS and Sheila Reed of San Francisco, CA; 28 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren and other family and friends.

Memorial services will be held at Hershey United Methodist Church in Hershey, Nebraska, on Friday, August 22, at 9:30 a.m.
Burial will follow at 11:00 a.m. at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska.