Mary Liebermann Phillips

Mary Liebermann Phillips, nee Mary Margaret Liebermann, was born on February 5, 1940, and passed away on December 3, 2025, at the age of 85. Mary was born in Santa Paula, California, to John and Elizabeth Liebermann and moved to the Waitsburg-Dayton area in the late 1940s when her parents purchased land.

Mary attended a two-room schoolhouse in Huntsville, Washington, from grades 2– 4 and then attended Waitsburg schools, graduating from Waitsburg High School in 1957. She attended Eastern Washington State College (now Eastern Washington State University), where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in teaching.

Mary’s first teaching job was at Ephrata High School, Ephrata, Washington. Several years later, she was head of the Business Department at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington. When she retired, she was Dean of the Business College at Edmonds Community College.

Mary met Charles Bud Phillips in 1974, when she bought him a glass of wine while out with friends. She used to say that it was probably the first time any woman delivered a glass of wine to a man in those days. She married Bud in 1977, and they made their home on Whidbey Island for many years. When the symptoms of Bud’s Lewy Body Dementia began to take their toll, they moved to Mary’s childhood home in Waitsburg for the last years of his life. He passed away in 2007.

Mary became active in her Waitsburg community in several ways, volunteering with the Waitsburg Historical Society, the Waitsburg High School Alumni Association, and St. Mark’s Catholic Parish Altar Society. A lifelong pet lover, she also had a special passion for the Blue Mountain Humane Society. Donations in her name to any of these nonprofits would be a fitting tribute.

In addition to her husband, Bud, she is preceded in death by one stepdaughter, Debra Phillips. She is survived by one stepdaughter, Danna Syltebo Anderson. She was beloved as Grandma Mary to Danna and Debra’s children and as Aunt Mary to several nieces and nephews. Mary is also survived by her brother, John Liebermann, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and special caregiver and close friend, Kathy Schirm, of Dayton, Washington.

Service will be held at a later date at St. Mark Catholic Church.

Mary will be missed dearly by all who knew her.