Phyllis Lombardi

After a long battle with cancer, Phyllis Lombardi died peacefully in her home on Nov. 5 at the age of 79. 

Born Feb. 22, 1935, she grew up in Flushing and Great Neck with her brother, Robert Safarik.  In pursuit of her desire to be an English teacher, she attended the College of New Rochelle and received her Master’s degree from Hofstra University, where she met her beloved husband, William Lombardi.  Phyllis’s love for English shined through in all aspects of her life, not only as a high school English teacher for 21 years in the Middle Country School District, but as a freelance writer for the Suffolk Times and Dan’s Papers and her uncanny ability to just talk with people about anything and everything.  She was a wonderful conversationalist.

Phyllis’s  greatest love was that of her and William’s  three children, all adopted through the Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn, and raised in Selden. They moved to their current home in Cutchogue after the children were grown.

Phyllis was a beloved community member and loved the North Fork, actively participating with the Cutchogue Homemakers, the North Fork Parish Outreach, and the Old Town Arts and Crafts Guild in Cutchogue, not to mention her freelance writing.  There was many a day she could be found in her sewing room making quilts and placemats and bibs or sitting on the back deck with her notebook composing fun, quirky and thoughtful articles.  She was loved by all and will be sorely missed.

Phyllis is survived by her husband, Bill; her brother, Robert; her three children, David Lombardi, Christine Buswell, and Stephen Lombardi; and her two grandchildren, Brian Buswell and  his wife, Chelsea Buswell, and Kaitlyn Buswell.

The family will receive visitors Sunday, Nov. 9, from 2 to 6 p.m. at Coster-Heppner Funeral Home in Cutchogue. A funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday, Nov. 10, at noon at Our Lady of Ostrabrama R.C. Church in Cutchogue, Father Stanislaw Wadowski officiating. Interment will be at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Cutchogue.

Memorial donations may be made to Angel Guardian Home in Brooklyn.

This is a paid notice.