Phyllis Summerhayes

Father Lost, Found, and Honoured with a Legacy of Learning

A Victoria woman’s life experience, which included a sad loss, a happy rediscovery, and ongoing devotion to an engineer, prompted her to leave an enduring legacy to students at the University of Victoria.

Phyllis Summerhayes was born in California. Her father Maurice was a mining engineer who got a job in Timmins, Ontario, and moved his family there when Phyllis was a toddler. 

Her mother found the transition difficult and quickly returned to California with Phyllis and her older sister. Maurice remained in Ontario, and the sisters were told that their father had died. 

It wasn’t until years later, when Phyllis was a teenager and her mother became ill, that her father traveled to California and Phyllis learned he was very much alive. 

Following their mother’s death, Phyllis and her sister moved to Ontario to be with their father. The three became inseparable. Phyllis worked in banking until Maurice retired to Duncan, taking his daughters with him. 

When he passed away at age 81, the sisters relocated to Victoria where Phyllis, a very private person, spent time with a small group of close friends who called themselves “The Golden Girls." 

Until she died in 2004, no one knew she had left a will which contained one of the largest bequests ever made to Engineering at the University of Victoria.  That legacy honours the father she lost and found so many years ago. For more information on donating to UVic, please contact mgrlegacydev@uvic.ca or 250-721-8967.