Phyllis Joy Stumbo

Phyllis Stumbo, 83, a much beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother passed away just before 11 pm on Tuesday, September 12. Phyllis's visitation will be in Tipton from 4-7 pm on Saturday at the Fry Funeral Home, 220 E 6th St, Tipton, IA. The funeral service will be at the Fry Funeral Home at 2 pm on Sunday, after which a short graveside service will be held at Shawver Cemetery, 210th Street, Tipton, just outside of Cedar Bluff. In lieu of flowers, loved ones may offer memorials to the Tipton Ambulance Service, 407 Lynn St., Tipton, IA 52772 (tiptonambulance@tiptoniowa.org). Phyllis was born in Olive Hill, KY, in 1934, to parents Robert and Opal (Bailey) Ernst. Three years later, her sister, Martha Sue, was born. She was born in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains just after the Great Depression and grew up amongst the trials and tribulations of the coal industry and a nation recovering from the Great Depression. The family never thought of themselves as hardship cases, but the area certainly did not have the advantages we take for granted in Iowa today. Phyllis married Hugh Stumbo in 1955. Over the course of their 62 years together, they lived i...[more]

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entucky, Ohio, Texas, Alaska, Georgia, Illinois, and Iowa. Phyllis attended her first year of college in Kansas City, then graduated with a B.A. from Morehead State College in KY. She went on to earn a M.A. from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. A Registered Dietitian, she worked as a Research Scientist for 29 years at the University of Iowa Clinical Research Center and was known nationally and internationally for her work on nutrient databases. Of all her roles, however, she perhaps enjoyed being grandmother best of all. Phyllis had fallen just after voting in the school board elections at the courthouse in Tipton, Iowa, on Tuesday, September 12, 2017. She was heading onto and/or up the stairs when she fell, hitting her head, which caused traumatic brain injury. She lost consciousness before the ambulance pulled out of town, which she never regained. Within 9 hours, surrounded by loved ones, she passed. She will be missed dearly.