Hope Phillips, a former middle school principal at the Taipei American School (TAS) and a resident of Taipei for 46 years, passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 91 in Washington on Thursday last week.
She moved to Taiwan in 1955 with her second husband, Captain Robert Phillips, a cholera expert with the US Navy Medical Corps who was assigned to set up the US Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 in Taipei, and they raised six children.
The family continued to reside in Taipei after Robert Phillips retired from the US Navy in 1967 and became director of the Pakistan-SEATO Cholera Research Laboratory. He died in 1976.
Hope Phillips began her career at TAS as an English teacher, and worked as college counselor and later middle school principal.
After retiring from the school, she became executive director of the American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China, but maintained a connection with TAS, serving on the school board and, as alumnae liaison, taking part in many school reunion activities, both in Taiwan and abroad.
She was a long-time member of the Taipei International Women’s Club, serving as the organization’s president from 1957 to 1958, and was an active participant in many expatriate events over the decades.
She was known for her willingness to review and edit scientific papers for doctoral students from all over Taiwan and mentor Vassar graduates, and was often in demand as a speaker on life in Taipei.
In 1998 and 1999, she again worked at TAS to coordinate the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations, which took place over the 1999 to 2000 school year.
In 2001, she moved back to the US, living for several years in San Antonio, Texas, before moving to Washington.
Born in New Hartford, New York, in 1923, Hope Phillips went to Vassar College, and married Gerald Dale, who was killed in action in World War II. Before moving to Taipei, she lived in London and Cairo, where she worked for the US government and met Robert Phillips. While her family stayed in Taipei, she return to the US in the late 1960s to obtain a masters’ degree from Colombia University.
She is survived by her six children and 11 grandchildren.
As per her wishes, no funeral or memorial services have been scheduled, but donations in her name may be made to the Hope N.F. Phillips Scholarship Fund, which provides needs-based aid to TAS students (www.tas.edu.tw/page.cfm?p=470), or to the Captain Gerald Fitzgerald Dale Senior Scholarship fund at Hamilton College in New York state (my.hamilton.edu/makeagift).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS