Janet Marie (Phillips) Black

Janet Marie Phillips Black was born November 2, 1956 in Albuquerque, New Mexico to parents Lawrence and Dixie (Nunn) Phillips.

She was the fourth of nine children and spent her early years in Albuquerque.  Because her dad traveled extensively while working in the oil field her family moved frequently and also lived in Southern California and Midland/Odessa Texas.  Relocating often created a difficult childhood so stability became very important to Janet as she became a mother and raised her own family.  It was also important to her to maintain close contact with her siblings throughout the years.

Janet graduated from Odessa High School and earned a degree in Mathematics at Angelo State University.  She was passionate, intelligent, driven and dreamed of being a teacher, but ended up working as a software engineer with Electronic Data Systems (EDS).  While working for EDS in Milwaukee she met her husband Ron and they eventually married in 1985 when living in Richardson, Texas. It was there she was able to move to an instructor position with EDS, thus fulfilling her desire to work as an educator.

Janet and Ron led an active life, participating in sporting events and they especially enjoyed scuba diving.  In February of 1989, with much excitement, they welcomed a son Travis and after his birth Janet returned to work for a short while until Sarah, their daughter was born.  It was at this point Janet decided to stay home and raise her children. She was a loving, strong and compassionate mother and was always involved in school and classroom activities.  She loved to sing and read to her children and took advantage of every opportunity to teach valuable lessons. Her involvement also included coaching and helping with lots of her kids sports teams.

Her love for kids and education took her back to the classroom in 1997 as a teacher in Lovejoy ISD.  She served as a long-term substitute teacher as Lovejoy Elementary and was an Assistant P.E. teacher at Hart Elementary School.  In 2001, she became a math teacher at Pat Dillard Special Education Center.  She enjoyed being able to give individualized help and being more of a presence for struggling kids.  Janet retired from Pat Dillard in 2019 due to health reasons but her tenacious attitude and strong will caused her to want to return to teaching after recovering from Leukemia.

Janet's  faith was important to her and she has been a member of First Baptist Church of Allen since attending and volunteering beginning when her children were very young. She was called home to be with her Lord on February 25, 2020.

Janet is survived by her son Travis Black; daughter Sarah Black; father of her children Ron Black; siblings Carolyn Daniel, Debbie O’Neill, Rick Phillips, Vanessa Mobley, Cindy Otwell, Mike Lester and Brian Lester; her fur babies (dog) Joey and (cat) Lt. Dan. She was preceded in death by her parents and sister Brenda Gail Weathermon.

The family will receive friends at a visitation Thursday, March 5, 2020 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Allen Family Funeral Options. There will be a memorial service to celebrate Janet’s life Saturday, March 7, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Allen, 201 E McDermott Dr, Allen, Texas with Rev. Chad Selph officiating.

The family has respectfully requested in lieu of flowers, please consider a financial gift to the family to assist with expenses, a memorial donation to SPCA; give.spca.org , Wounded Warrior; woundedwarriorproject.org , or Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; lls.org