Lois Shapiro Phillips, lived a life in the arts

Lois Marcia Shapiro Phillips, teacher, actress, artist and writer, died May 10. She was 78 and lived in Oakland, Calif.

A native Philadelphian, Lois started acting as a teenager at the famed Hedgerow Theater in Moylan, Delaware County.

Her acting career also included performing with theater companies in New York, Paris, London and Palo Alto, Calif. She lived in Paris for a time.

It appeared that fate had dealt Lois a crippling blow when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 10. But she never let the condition stop her from doing what she wanted to do in a very active life.

"Never once did I hear Lois say, 'Why me?' or feel sorry for herself about this extra burden she carried," said a longtime friend.

Lois was born in Philadelphia to Davis H. Shapiro and Bertha Shafritz. Her grandparents were Jews who had immigrated from Russia and Poland.

She graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1946. She was admitted to what is now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, renowned for having one of the most respected theater departments in the country.

She later transferred to the University of Pennsylvania and received a bachelor's degree in psychology. She also studied at the Barnes Foundation in Merion.

In 1955, she married Matt Phillips, a college professor and artist. Three daughters were born in Bucks County. In 1962, the family moved to Paris and later to upstate New York, where she continued to act while raising her children.

The marriage ended in divorce in 1967, and she moved to Merion. She returned to Penn, earning a master's in education. While teaching at the Friends school in Media, she turned her creative energies to painting and writing, especially children's stories, which she also illustrated.

After her girls went off to college, Lois moved to Center City and worked for a time for a bookstore. In 2001, she moved to Oakland, Calif.

"Lois was a wonderful and unusual mother," said Liz Meltzer, one of her daughters. "She was smart, articulate, artistic, curious about many things, talented and very real.

"From early on, I knew my mom was not like other moms I knew. Instead she was a woman who marched to the beat of her own unique drummer.

"She was always direct, straightforward and honest, never one for small talk or pleasantries. If you asked her what she thought about something, she would answer very honestly."

Lois was devoted to Liz's children, Julian and Hannah, and would send them children's books from Philadelphia before she moved west.

"Probably two-thirds of their library came from her, and believe me her choices were interesting and unusual," Liz said. "She came to each of their classrooms to read books and articles, sometimes ones that she herself had written."

Lois also is survived by two other daughters, Kate and Miriam.

Services: Were in California.*