Obituary of Phyllis C. Ostrander

After a brief attempt to recover from a traumatic injury, Phyllis quietly left her earthly home on January 4, 2024. Born Phyllis Corinne in East Guilford, NY, she was the second child of Albert and Lorena (Haynes) Hyatt. There she enjoyed her growing up years along with her brother Horace and Sister Norma (Bobi). Growing up in East Guilford meant being part of the tight knit group of neighborhood friends spending time together having good clean fun. Doing simple things like swimming in the Falls. Phyllis graduated from Sidney Central School, Class of 1947, where she was a proud member of the Cheerleading Squad. After graduation she began her secretarial career becoming the personal secretary for Captain Gay at the New York State Police, Troop C, Sidney Barracks. She remained in this position until the birth of her first daughter, Barbara, in 1950. During this time when not working Phyllis kept busy serving on the East Guilford Emergency Squad and being an active member of the East Guilford Presbyterian Church. In 1949 she became the bride of Carroll Ostrander of Rockdale, where they resided until 1952 when they moved to East Guilford to take over the work of running the Miller Farm until it was sold by the Miller family. In 1956 Rockdale once again became their home where they raised their family of six girls. Phyllis decided to make her lifelong career being a homemaker, full time Mom and Righthand Man for Carroll. She worked very hard on the family farm, helping with the milking, haying and doing the daily washing of all the milk pails. Carroll was always taking on different side jobs and she was always there helping. She could be seen driving big trucks to the sawmill in New Berlin for the loads of sawdust that they sold. She would have to leave at 4:00 in the morning to get there and get in line for a load. This meant she would have at least one little girl wrapped in blankets with her that wasn't of school age yet. Among other jobs, they had a Maple Sap collection route that she helped with every year. Every day and sometimes twice a day if the sun was shining and the sap was running, the buckets on the trees were emptied by hand into the tank on the truck to be taken to Sipple's Sap House in Bainbridge. What a cold, wet job that was! I wonder how she was ever able to always prepare three good home cooked meals, much of which came from her garden and supper always included a homemade dessert, and still keep a clean house with clean clothes and clean children. In the early years of motherhood she enjoyed being a member of the Ladies Aide Group of the Rodgers Hollow Grange. Many days when her morning work was done she would have lunch with her best friend Bea Taft. One or the other would pack their preschoolers in the stroller and walk to the other's home to enjoy a little rest and good company. As the girls grew and began leaving home Phyllis became babysitter and "Grandma" Ostrander to the children of many local families. She loved them all as if they were her own and because of her love for family and local genealogy, they would troop along with her to the local cemeteries on the sunny days for research. Phyllis was an active member for many years of the East Guilford Cemetery Association and the Guilford and Mount Upton Historical Societies. She contributed a great deal of her knowledge and research to both. Phyllis had a green thumb. She would take a leaf that had fallen, stick it in a pot and a new plant would be born. She loved her flowers as was evident if you ever passed by her lawn in the summertime. In the fall her cellar-way would become a greenhouse, or a jungle, I'm not sure which, when she would bring them all back inside to nurture them until next summer. Pots and pots of plants, especially her geraniums. Phyllis is survived by five of her six daughters: Michele Hartwell; Jodie Bennett-Edwards (Ron); Jill Palmer (Gerald); Lorie Ostrander (Charles); Nicole Christian. Her eldest daughter, Barbara joined her Dad in Heaven in 2020. She was blessed with ten Grandchildren that she loved dearly: Shayne "Mike" Hartwell (Sherrie); Eden Hartwell-Barnes (Brandon); Kory Bennett (Emma); Cole Bennett (Stephanie); Cerice Palmer-Hoffman (Keith); Dane Palmer (Erica); Taylor Soroka; Joel Christian (Kelsie Tranvaag); Jay Christian (Hailey); Shay Christian. Because of Barbara's marriage to Joseph "John" Funaro in 1975, Phyllis was able to claim three more beautiful Granddaughters: Kecia Funaro-Burton (Brian); AnnMarie Funaro-Oliver (Geoffrey); Deborah Funaro-Scarcella (Richard). Annmarie joined her Dad in Heaven in 2015. The Great Grandchildren came at a time when she was missing babies in her life. She always had and wanted babies around her. She loved them all fiercely. Fourteen of them, I'm sure she will be giving them angel kisses as they are sent down to us. Lane Hartwell; Mikayla Hartwell; Dustyn Hartwell; Ozella Barnes; Hyatt Barnes; Vanessa Bennett; Chase Hoffman; Evelyn Hoffman; Kayla Palmer; Nathan Oliver; Emerson Burton; Cooper Burton; and two sweet angels, John William Oliver and Sue Ann Oliver that were sent down to AnnMarie and left us all too soon. Along with the blessing of six daughters, God saw fit to send her a son. At the age of 10, William "Bill" Northrop came to live with her and Carroll when their first two girls were only babies. The girls all grew up with the Best Big Brother until he left home to marry his love, Joan Taylor, who became just as loved as a Big Sister. Of course that led to a family big enough to fill her heart when there were four more babies she could claim: Terri; Rusty; Ronnie; Tammy. Then all their babies and their babies' babies. She was blessed. Phyllis' sister, Norma Palmer and brother-in-law Irving Palmer survive her. Her brother, Horace Hyatt and sister-in-law Dolores (Keefer) predeceased her. She was also predeceased by three sons- in-law: John Funaro; John Hartwell; Terry Christian. There are many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends both here and gone that are/were special to Phyllis and loved very much. Her family will certainly miss her very much but are comforted in knowing that she has so many loving, kind people waiting for her, including her Dad who last hugged her when she was 3 and her Mom that raised her all those years by herself. At Phyllis' request there will be no services. Internment will be in the spring in East Guilford Cemetery. Since 2018 when Carroll left for Heaven, Phyllis has lived with his Beloved Kitty. Kitty was his companion at the horse barn and came to live at the house to be with him when he could no longer go to see her. After he left, she stayed at the house and became Phyllis' Beloved Kitty too. Kitty worked very hard to help them both climb the stairs to Heaven, she is one of those Angels without Wings. Because Kitty was found at the SPCA in Norwich, the family would appreciate any donations made in Phyllis' memory go there to help other "Kittys" in need. An alternate suggestion would be to have them sent to the Gilbertville-Mount Upton Central School Backpack Program to help provide nutritious home meals for the children. All children were her greatest love.