Phyllis Kay O’Reilly

Phyllis Mary Kay O’Reilly, age 91, of Cedar Crest Village in Pompton Plains, formerly an over fifty year resident of the Packanack Lake Section of Wayne, passed peacefully at home on Saturday, June 26, 2021 while in the loving company of her family.

Born in Paterson New Jersey on September 26, 1929, Phyllis was the sole child of John and Alice (Donohue) Kay. She grew up in the home located at 287 East 18th Avenue in Paterson and, as a member of the Donohue clan, she was very well connected to the leadership of Paterson.

After graduating from St. Joseph’s High School in Paterson with the Class of 1946, she attended Berkeley Secretarial School, then got her first job working as an executive secretary at McGraw Hill for an editor in the Times Square section of New York City.

Phyllis was married to Hugh, a veteran of World War II. They met through a friend of Hugh’s and soon fell in love. They exchanged wedding promises on Sunday, February 18, 1951 at Saint Joseph’s Church in Paterson. After the wedding the newlyweds drove to Florida in a black Pontiac and honeymooned in Fort Lauderdale. They initially lived in an apartment in Passaic where they welcomed their firstborn, a son named John (Jack). A year later, with the help of the G.I. Bill, Phyllis and Hugh were able to buy their own home at 41 Hillcrest Drive in the Packanack Lake section of Wayne. They chose that particular home because of its beautiful fireplace. In the following years, four more children were welcomed - Michael, Maura, Jean and Brian. To this day, Phyllis and Hugh’s kids enjoy childhood memories of hanging their pajamas by that fireplace so they’d be toasty warm when they finished their baths. Phyllis and Hugh enjoyed over fifty years on Hillcrest Drive before moving to Cedar Crest Village in Pompton Plains. They were living proof of the old adage that opposites attract. Hugh kept Phyllis perpetually laughing and Phyllis kept Hugh’s mind perpetually stimulated and challenged. They were blessed with 67 years of marriage until Hugh’s passing in 2018 at the good age of 98.

At the age of 38 Hugh developed a cardiac condition and Phyllis, then just 28, realized that she may need to support her family. So she enrolled in Paterson State College (which eventually became William Paterson College and then William Paterson University) and obtained her undergraduate degree and teaching certificate in education. She would later go on to obtain multiple graduate degrees including one while pregnant with her fifth child Brian. Always ready to seize and opportunity, Phyllis’ children recall how she enrolled them in summer science labs at William Paterson while she took summer classes. Phyllis enjoyed a stimulating and rewarding career of thirty years teaching at Stonybrook Elementary School and Pearl R. Miller Middle School, both in the Kinnelon, NJ school district. She served as President of the Kinnelon Education Association (KEA) and as Union representative for the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA). She retired in 1991 at age 62.

Growing up, Phyllis and her parents spent summers at the Jersey shore in Seaside Heights and, as a teen, worked as a locker attendant at Lucky Leo’s Boardwalk Amusement Center. From early childhood, Phyllis developed an enthusiastic love of reading. Her home library was so extensive friends would visit and check out books. Phyllis was very smart and very talented. She made her own clothes, and jewelry and she taught watercolor painting for the Cedar Crest Community. She was well known to complete the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle with her morning coffee. It was only in the last few months that she needed an extra cup of coffee to finish! Not many could boast of having a letter to the editor published in the New York Times, but Phyllis could. She was a huge fan of the old college bowl games and Jeopardy. She embraced technology, and always acquired the latest iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad, and taught technology classes to fellow Cedar Crest residents. Phyllis’ family considered her to be the smartest woman any of them knew!

With all that intellect, Phyllis was able to accomplish a lot! Running a household, pursuing college degrees and teaching in the Kinnelon schools would be more than enough for most people, but Phyllis still found quality time to enrich the lives of family, friends, and acquaintances. She and Hugh did their best to make events for their children fun and educational. There were trips to every museum you could think of, Saturday matinees at the New York Metropolitan Opera, regular attendance at plays such as The King and I, and visits to cemeteries to learn about history and to sharpen the children’s math skills by making equations to solve, using the dates on headstones. The love of reading was instilled in her children from the start. Every week, Phyllis would ask each one of the kids what subject they would like to read about for the week, then she was off to the Wayne Public Library in pursuit of books on the chosen subjects. The family enjoyed annual vacations to Cape Cod. Hugh built an amazing custom trailer and the family camped and fished right off the beach. Of course, even Phyllis had her limits. When life got just a little too hectic.

Hugh would take the kids down to the Hi-Ho Club in Wayne. He’d enjoy a shot and a beer with friends while the kids were treated to a bottle of birch beer or sarsaparilla. When graced with the blessing of grandchildren, Phyllis proudly presented each one of them with a personally made blanket and sweater. Phyllis and Hugh had the pleasure of traveling to many places around the world including: Antarctica on a Russian research ship, Argentina, Easter Island, Tibet, the British Isles, China, and Italy to name a few. Many of her watercolor paintings were depictions of places traveled or interesting people met along the way.

Phyllis drank deeply from all the richness that life had to offer. She was a life-long learner who inspired and consequently raised up family and friends and even strangers. As a longtime member of the Packanack Community Association and Country Club, president of the Resident Advisory Board at Cedar Crest Village, and member of  the Allendale Community Arts Association, to name a few, she always gave much more than she took from this world.  

Phyllis was the beloved wife of Hugh, blessed in marriage for 67 years until his passing in 2018. She was the loving mother of: Jack O’Reilly and his wife Mary, Dr. Michael O’Reilly and his late wife Saundra (2018), Maura Kayal and her husband John, Jean O’Reilly, and Brian O’Reilly; dear grandmother of: Brendan O’Reilly, Sean O’Reilly, the late Padraic O’Reilly (2018), Andrea Kayal, Jeffrey Kayal, Daniel Kayal, Ryan Kayal, and Shannon O’Reilly Leahy; and cherished great-grandmother of Opal Faye O’Reilly and Fiona O’Reilly Leahy.

In lieu of flowers, those planning an expression of sympathy in Phyllis’ name are asked to consider “Cedar Crest Resident Care Fund” with “In Memory of Phyllis O’Reilly” written in the memo line of the check. Contributions can be mailed to Cedar Crest, Attn: Department of Philanthropy, 1 Cedar Crest Drive, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444.