Beloved teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, died on Monday, January 30th at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 64. Despite being diagnosed in 2008 with a form of Breast Cancer for which few treatments exist, Phyllis never stopped embracing life. She lived with an open heart, celebrated music, art, literature, languages, travel, and simply being. The fourth of seven children born to Sylvester and Helen Kutt, Phyllis was raised in the Central Massachusetts towns of Ware and West Brookfield. She earned her Bachelor's Degree from Southern Connecticut State College and spent several years living in the Southwest before returning to Massachusetts and settling in Cambridge in 1975. After earning her Master's Degree from Tufts University, Phyllis taught English for 35 years to middle and high school students in Reading, Watertown, Brookline, Hudson, and at the Fayerweather Street School in Cambridge.
In her retirement years, Phyllis developed her skills as a photographer and had began painting in watercolor, an avocation she had always wanted to pursue. She delighted in studying at the Kaji Aso Studio in Boston and in learning to capture the people and places she loved. She also spent much of her time at the Cape Cod home she shared with her beloved husband of 25 years, Loren Wilson. Phyllis took great joy in her family, including her two children, son Chad Austin Leith, daughter Holly Brett Leith, daughter-in-law Edna Monteiro Leith, and two grandchildren, Alexander and Isabella. She is also survived by her six siblings, sister Janice (Kutt) Smith and brothers Steven, Joseph, Peter, Andrew, and Matthew.
Beloved teacher, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, died on Monday, January 30th at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts at age 64. Despite being diagnosed in 2008 with a form of Breast Cancer for which few treatments exist, Phyllis never stopped embracing life. She lived with an open heart, celebrated music, art, literature, languages, travel, and simply being. The fourth of seven children born to Sylvester and Helen Kutt, Phyllis was raised in the Central Massachusetts towns of Ware and West Brookfield. She earned her Bachelor's Degree from Southern Connecticut State College and spent several years living in the Southwest before returning to Massachusetts and settling in Cambridge in 1975. After earning her Master's Degree from Tufts University, Phyllis taught English for 35 years to middle and high school students in Reading, Watertown, Brookline, Hudson, and at the Fayerweather Street School in Cambridge.
In her retirement years, Phyllis developed her skills as a photographer and had began painting in watercolor, an avocation she had always wanted to pursue. She delighted in studying at the Kaji Aso Studio in Boston and in learning to capture the people and places she loved. She also spent much of her time at the Cape Cod home she shared with her beloved husband of 25 years, Loren Wilson. Phyllis took great joy in her family, including her two children, son Chad Austin Leith, daughter Holly Brett Leith, daughter-in-law Edna Monteiro Leith, and two grandchildren, Alexander and Isabella. She is also survived by her six siblings, sister Janice (Kutt) Smith and brothers Steven, Joseph, Peter, Andrew, and Matthew.
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