Obituary for Sylvia Vance

Sylvia Jeannette (Phillips) Vance. Born December 24, 1925 in New Britain, CT to Edna Miller Phillips and Vernon Lee Phillips. Died Saturday, January 29, 2022 at Westerwood (formerly Friendship Village of Columbus).

Although she died when Sylvia was only seven, her mother taught Sylvia some French words, sparking in her a lifelong love for the language. After her mother’s death, she lived in Dayton with her Aunt and Uncle (Walter and Marjorie Roberts) and a “family of cousins” with whom she remained close throughout her life. When her father remarried, she moved back to New England and graduated from high school in Bristol, NH. Sylvia attended Otterbein College, rooming with her dear cousin Janet Roberts. Her ties to Otterbein ran deep. Great grandfather John Haywood and great grandmother Sylvia Carpenter Haywood were early professors at Otterbein. She worked as a waitress at Williams Grill in Westerville, where she met Waid (with a little matchmaking help from his father Floyd Vance, also a lifelong pillar of Otterbein). In 1947, she was named the Otterbein Centennial Queen. She began teaching during her senior year, graduating in 1947. Sylvia married Waid Winston Vance in 1948. When their three children were old enough, Sylvia began her fulltime teaching career at Otterbein, 1961-1991. During her tenure at Otterbein, she helped create text for language teaching films, earned her MA and PhD (1980) in French Literature from OSU, chaired the Integrative Studies Department from 1981 to 1987, and served as the first Director of Humanities Programs, implementing activities funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant, which she helped secure in 1984. Her interest in the memoirs of the seventeenth-century French Cardinal de Retz began with her dissertation work and continued through retirement years, when her book, The Memoirs of the Cardinal de Retz was published in 2005. She viewed Retz’s memoirs as an interplay of history and literature. This “least ecclesiastical cardinal” was a figure in a notable and failed internal rebellion in 17th century France.

Sylvia loved teaching, literature, books, the 17th century, time spent with close friends, chocolate, the color green, travel, and football. She also loved gardening, considering herself lucky to have a nice plot she could plant at Friendship Village. She was a member of the Sigma Alpha Tau sorority (as an undergraduate and, later, advisor), Quiz and Quill literary organization, Child Conservation League, Discussion Group (a lifelong collection of dear friends), United Methodist Women, AAUW, the Westerville Historical Society, The New Century Club, and UM Church of the Master.

Surviving family members are daughters Mary Jeannette (partner Valerie Mitrione) and Sara Ann (partner Jenny Morgan), cousin Richard Roberts (Monica), brother-in-law Robert Floyd Vance of Louisville, KY, and his wife Evelyn; nephew Richard Vance and daughter A lissa; niece Kathryn V. Latosky and her husband Joseph; and niece Patricia V. Kerr and daughter Kathleen. Preceded in death by husband Waid who died in 2009, son Robert Lee who died in 1987, half-brother Vernon Lee Phillips who died in 2020, stepmother Delsie Cole Phillips, and cousins Edna Mae (Roberts) Rudy, Janet Louise Roberts, Charles Roberts, Ed Roberts, and Eileen Wanders.

The funeral service will be held at Church of the Master on the corner of West Main St. and N. Grove St. in Westerville on Saturday, February 26 at 2:00. Please wear a mask. The service will be live-streamed on the Church of the Master UM YouTube channel.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made (by those who wish to do so) to the Sylvia and Waid Vance Endowed Scholarship (Otterbein College Development Office, (One S. Grove St, Westerville, OH 43081) or to the Memorial Fund, Church of the Master (24 N. Grove St., Westerville, OH 43081).

Perhaps you could think of her when you plant spring flowers…