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A mother, grandmother, and kindergarten teacher, Dana was a lifelong lover of music.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom said, \u2018A sheet of music won\u2019t keep you warm at night,\u2019\u201d Karen Dana recalled.<\/p>\n
Phyllis had met Nathan \u2014 whom she\u2019d be married to for 71 years \u2014 in 1953, after graduating high school.<\/p>\n
Around that time, she was offered a full scholarship to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pa. The organization touts itself as America\u2019s most selective music conservatory. It accepts four per cent of applicants.<\/p>\n
Phyllis had taken classical voice lessons. She knew the stage; she performed in musical theatre at St. John\u2019s High School, in Winnipeg\u2019s North End.<\/p>\n
Her family moved to River Heights before Phyllis\u2019s final year, but she refused to transfer to the nearby Kelvin High School \u2014 she insisted she\u2019d graduate with her friends.<\/p>\n
Instead of walking roughly three minutes, she bussed for 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was very Baba,\u201d said Jessee Havey, Phyllis\u2019s granddaughter. \u201cIf she had her mind made up about something, it was like, \u2018OK, we\u2019re just going to stand back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n A young Phyllis Dana in front of the Bieldy Apartments in 1943.<\/p>\n That fiery spirit drew Nate to Phyllis, said Havey, 43. (Havey spent hours interviewing her grandparents, considering herself lucky to have them alive during her adulthood.)<\/p>\n The duo met through mutual friends and would go on double dates with different partners. Eventually, Nate turned to his friend and asked him if he intended to marry Phyllis.<\/p>\n As the lore goes, the friend said no, and Nate said something like, \u201cWell I intend to.\u201d<\/p>\n The friend gave the go-ahead for Nate to date Phyllis. She\u2019d applied to the Curtis Institute before meeting Nate; her acceptance letter and decision came later.<\/p>\n She and Nate settled in the North End. They married when she was 18 and had Karen a year later.<\/p>\n In another three years, Phyllis would birth her son Marshall and, following his entry into school, find what Havey deemed another \u201ccalling\u201d \u2014 kindergarten teaching.<\/p>\n \u201cBaba spoke like a kindergarten teacher regardless of whether she was in front of a room full of five-year-olds or not,\u201d Havey said. \u201cShe was so animated and articulate.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Dana, age 17, with Nate, age 21, at the Copa, Winnipeg, 1954. The couple would marry a year later.<\/p>\n A true performer, Phyllis led songs with actions, emphasizing Yiddish words as she stood \u2014 four-foot-11 and one-quarter \u2014 in front of her tiny audience.<\/p>\n She worked in Winnipeg\u2019s Jewish day school system, at I.L. Peretz School and, later, the Talmud Torah-I.L. Peretz Folk School. She helped establish all-day kindergarten, according to Karen.<\/p>\n She spent nearly three decades teaching.<\/p>\n In early days, Phyllis worked without a teaching certificate. She went to university for her designation in her mid-30s and took night courses once private schools required the education.<\/p>\n Karen was studying to be a social worker at the same time. She\u2019d accompany her mom to the University of Winnipeg, doing homework while Phyllis took courses. Karen calls it \u201cspecial time\u201d together.<\/p>\n The women would also sing together \u2014 so often that they would ad lib songs and physically point to indicate who would take high and low tones.<\/p>\n Phyllis sang in synagogue choirs most of her life. As a senior, she worried she\u2019d lose her pitch and sound like a \u201cdrowning cat.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Dana, aged 24, performing in High Button Shoes at Rainbow Stage in 1961.<\/p>\n \u201cShe never sounded like a drowning cat, but she was very concerned,\u201d Havey said. \u201cShe sang beautifully until the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year \u2014 at 89 years old \u2014 she sang with her daughter and granddaughter at a Holocaust remembrance event held by the Gwen Secter Creative Living Centre.<\/p>\n \u201cI was singing with my parents and my baba from the time I was born, basically,\u201d Havey said. \u201cI think it made her so happy that I took a knack to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Havey won a Juno Award with her folk fusion band the Duhks in 2006, under the roots and traditional album category. The next year, the group was nominated for a Grammy for best country performance by a duo or group with vocals.<\/p>\n Havey now has a Winnipeg-based kid\u2019s music group \u2014 Jessee Havey and the Banana Band \u2014 that Phyllis saw perform.<\/p>\n \u201cI always kind of felt like, knowing that she gave up this music career, that I was kind of carrying the torch for her,\u201d Havey said.<\/p>\n Phyllis and Nate would be \u201cfront and centre\u201d at shows, thrilled to watch their granddaughter take the stage, Karen added.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n (From left) Nate, Phyllis, Karen, and Marshall Dana, Winnipeg, 1976<\/p>\n \u201cThey worked together,\u201d Karen said of her parents. \u201cThey loved each other and they liked each other, and that was really, really important for both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Both volunteered. Phyllis was involved with a number of groups, including Gwen Secter\u2019s board. Nathan, then a retired garment industry worker, drove for Meals on Wheels, among other volunteer jobs.<\/p>\n Karen was inspired by her parents. She\u2019s since been recognized for her own volunteerism \u2014 with a King Charles III Coronation Medal and a Manitoba 150 medal.<\/p>\n One of Karen\u2019s best friends, Rabbi Allan Finkel, led Phyllis\u2019s funeral earlier this year.<\/p>\n He was a regular at the family\u2019s house during high school lunch breaks; it was next door. He remembers the smells of home-cooked meals and that neighbourhood kids often stopped by to the use the washroom.<\/p>\n \u201c(Phyllis) really had that touch to make people feel loved, cared for and safe,\u201d Finkel said. \u201cYou always felt good when you were in her presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Her eyes would smile, he added: \u201cShe was tiny but she had this aura around her, presence around her which was much, much bigger than her physical size.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Phyllis receiving her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Winnipeg in 1980. She would later earn her Bachelor of Education from U of W, as well.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019ll really be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n Phyllis died peacefully in her sleep on May 17, her family said. She was 89 years old.<\/p>\n gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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