Obituary of Phyllis Mae Scholberg

Age 88, of New Brighton, MN, passed away on November 3, 2018. Preceded in death by loving husband of 61 years, Henry Cedric Scholberg, one sister and two brothers. Survived by brother Ronald Goodman Nelson (Mary), Houston, TX; sister-in-law Joan Nelson, Tampa, FL; sons Andrew (Susan), Gainesville, FL, Daniel (Candice), Longview, WA; daughter Naomi (Bert) Jones, Columbia Heights, MN; ten grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; many nephews, nieces, cousins.

Born on January 13, 1930, in Brainerd, MN on Pine Shadows dairy farm, she graduated from Brainerd High School in 1947 and Brainerd Junior College in 1948. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in teaching from St. Cloud State University in 1950.

She began her elementary teaching career in South St. Paul and St. Paul, where her students included the children of several of the governors of Minnesota. She taught in St. Louis Park, and then went on to Columbia Heights and spent two decades teaching first grade at Silver Lake School, ending her final professional years as a second grade teacher at Highland School. In 1971 she authored A Native American Curriculum Unit for the First Grade. Active in her union, she attended several national American Federation of Teachers union conventions, taking time at one of them to look up and meet the legendary civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.

She was active in politics, often regaling people with stories of rubbing elbows with Presidents Harry Truman and John Kennedy and Vice President Hubert Humphrey. She hosted a Democrats for Durenberger party in her home, which U.S. senatorial candidate Dave Durenberger attended.

Governor Rudy Perpich gave her a plaque for influencing key government officials to free from prison two innocent men, Lynnard and Stanley Hill. Without her persistent efforts the Hill brothers almost certainly would have remained behind bars serving their unjust sentences.

She traveled around the world, assisting her husband as an advisor to 13 SPAN (Student Project for Amity among Nations) students in 1964 in India. With her husband and three children, she lived one summer in London and one summer in Paris. She was a Global Volunteer to Tonga, Spain, and Jamaica. She enjoyed reading, creative writing, entertaining, playing Bridge, volunteering as a Cub Scout den mother, Sunday School teacher, United Methodist Women activities coordinator, and as an Each One Teach One adult reading tutor. 

The family wishes to extend deep gratitude to the staffs of Mercy Hospital Coon Rapids, New Brighton Care Center, and Allina Hospice.

A private family memorial service will be held next spring for reposing her ashes. The family respectfully requests that Phyllis’s wishes be honored: no flowers, no donations, please.