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).
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS