Phyllis Ann Kappes, 86, was born June 12, 1938 to Russell Eugene Totten and Laurdell Enoch Totten. She was raised in Cumberland, Indiana and peacefully left this world on Monday January 13, 2025 after a long battle with numerous illnesses.

Phyllis loved her family fiercely. She was a percussionist with Warren Central High School band and wanted to be a band director, her father directed her towards Methodist School of Nursing in Indianapolis, IN where she graduated as a registered nurse. She was a surgical, ER, & school nurse. Early in her career she was a first responder at the Indy 500 on race day. She was on first heart transplant team in Indiana. She taught ACLS (Advance Cardiac Life Support) at Ball Hospital. She was the Saint Mary school nurse when her children attended there & again in her retirement. Phyllis was an organist at St Mary Church in the 70's, sang in St Mary church choir in the 80's & later years sang with St Francis of Assisi church music ministry. At home she played the piano. Back in the day she was active with Masterworks Chorale. She was among many of the favored St Mary School "lunch moms" and volunteered as the Delta High School band camp nurse when her children participated in that that high school music program. At band camp she and another favored band mom June Young set up shop at camp wearing wigs & nurse uniforms & band campers lined the hallway waiting for to get their sore muscles massaged after a long day of marching & practicing for Indiana State Fair competition. Phyllis sacrificed her career with early retirement to care for her ailing husband. She was a sports enthusiast from her children & grandchildren soccer, golf, basketball, little league & metro games to watching college & professional football, basketball, baseball. Her DVR is full. You could find her sitting in her den reclined and watching her favorites Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Blue Bloods, FBI, and NCIS. She was an avid reader, favored authors John Grisham, David Baldacci, James Patterson, Sandra Brown, Nora Robert's, Susan Wiggs, Danielle Steel, Fern Michaels, Iris Johansen, and Rosamunde Pilcher. She loved to play solitaire on her computer accompanied by her cat Julius. Julius didn't know his name he was lovingly referred to as "cat, kitty, kit-kat, meow, hey you stop that" but he loved the solitaire win & would watch the deck of cards go bouncing across the screen. Phyllis enjoyed the annual over-night Kappes family reunions held at the various Indiana State Park lodges each summer. She loved to vacation in the Outer Banks with her family. She was a bird watcher and kept thistle seed for the finches and nectar for the hummingbirds. She delighted in watching the humming bird who nested in her kitchen window box this past year. Her back property line had numerous bird feeders & she kept binoculars on an end table to watch her birds. She loved gardening & enjoyed her flower beds while she sat on her patio deck under the gazebo. In summertime when her children were young she would be in the garden with her children & family dog Buffy, planting and harvesting and teaching her 4 children how to home can beets, tomatoes, pickles, green beans, corn, and she made grape jelly & grape juice from the Concord grapes she grew along the fence row. Her children never doubted for one minute that she loved them. She was firm but fair. She said her bedtime prayers each night & lived her life in the true spirit of the Florence Nightingale pledge: I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care. Mom, GMA, PK will be sorely missed here on earth, we know she is rejoicing being reunited with her daughter Therese Kathryn & her brother Dale Eugene, those were her two of her most heartbreaking worldly losses.

Phyllis is survived by 3 of her children, John (wife Ashley), Thomas, Monica and grandchildren by order of age (all were equally loved): Dustin, Rev Thomas, Zachary, Myles, Grant, Kate, Samantha; great-grandchildren, Tanner, Carter; and a sister Janet (Guy, deceased), numerous nieces/nephews, great nieces/nephews and many cousins and cherished friends. She was preceded in death by her parents Russell & Lauredell, brother Dale, beloved daughter Therese and husband George and 2 babies that did not survive to birth (one prior to daughter Therese and one after son John).

Calling hours will be Tuesday January 21, 2025 at Garden View Funeral Home, 10501 N State Road 3, Muncie, IN 47303 from 4pm-6:30pm with a prayer service at 6pm. Additional calling 1 hour prior to funeral on Wednesday January 22, 2025 at 10am, Saint Mary Catholic Church, 2300 W Jackson St, Muncie, IN 47303. Funeral will begin at 11am with internment immediately following at Gardens of Memory Cemetery, 10703 N State Road 3, Muncie, IN 47303. Family and friends will gather following internment, location TBD.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests a donation to the Higgins Nelson Robold Kappes Mathematics Scholarship (fund #5552) at Ball State University. To make a gift online do so at bsu.edu/give select OTHER in the drop down window and then MANUALLY enter the fund number and/or name in the field.