Phyllis Harper-Bardach

HARPER-BARDACH, HARPER, BARDACH, FREEMAN, FINCH, ELKADI

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 9/30/2015 at 09:35:10

Phyllis Harper-Bardach was born on January 3, 1928 in Staten Island, N.Y., the daughter of Leland and Estelle Freeman. Phyllis died on Thursday, September 24, 2015.

Funeral Services will be held at 10 AM, Tuesday, September 29th at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service, Iowa City, with Father Steven Witt officiating. Visitation will be held Monday from 5-7 PM at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers memorials may be directed to Elder Services or Iowa City Hospice.

Phyllis’ earliest years were spent on Staten Island, N.Y., where she lived with her mother, father, and one older sister, Pauline. As a high school student, Phyllis received the “Highest Standing Certificate” from the American Association of Teachers of Spanish” and “Outstanding recognition from the American Association of Teachers of French.

After graduation from high school, Phyllis enrolled at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and majored in Spanish. At Howard, Phyllis met Bill Harper who was a medical student. They were married in 1948 after their graduation and moved to Bill’s hometown of Keokuk, Iowa.

Phyllis & Bill had three children, Bill, Freeman and Phyllis. Their son Freeman was born deaf. Phyllis was to take the new found knowledge of her deaf child into the future where she not only promoted and secured the best teaching and education for her son Freeman, but she would in future years, teach, inspire and energize others in ways that touched the lives of so many.

In the late 1950s Phyllis decided to focus her education and training on education of the deaf. She moved back east and in 1959 where she earned her MA in Deaf Education at Columbia University. Phyllis and her children lived with her family on Staten Island. During those times, Phyllis would take Freeman to ‘”day school” in the morning and her mother would meet him after school to take him home. They would take a bus, then the ferry and then 3 subway trains each day.

After receiving her master’s degree, the family was back together again in Keokuk. Phyllis accepted a teaching position at a day school in Quincy, Illinois and each day Phyllis and Freeman would commute 100 miles round trip from Keokuk to Quincy and then back to Keokuk.

Phyllis’ early professional life was focused on a pedagogy that included parents participation. During those years, Phyllis lectured on Parent Education in Guidance and Counseling at the Summer Institute for Parents of Pre-school Deaf Children in Illinois. When Freeman entered secondary school at the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville, Illinois, Phyllis supervised the Parent-Pupil Tutor Program there and gained national recognition for the article, “A Visible Speech Aid” in the Volta Review.

Shortly after the death of her husband in 1975, Phyllis decided to further her education and moved to Iowa City and entered the PhD program at the University of Iowa and in 1980 she received her doctorate in Educational Administration through the College of Education. At the University of Iowa, Phyllis served as a lecturer, supervisor of student teachers, teacher and consultant until her retirement in 1990. In Iowa City, Phyllis met and married Dr. Janusz Bardach in the 1980's.

Phyllis has served on many State and National Boards such as:
- The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf
- The National Advisory Committee for the Handicapped
- The Parent Committee of the Convention of American Instructors for the Deaf
- The National Planning and Advisory Council for the White House Conference on Handicapped Individuals
- The Iowa Council on Speech, Hearing & Language Disorders
- National Advisory Group for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf

She also won the 1999 Rich Graf Award for Iowa City Human Rights Commission. She organized the state group of Iowa teachers for hearing impaired and served as the president from 1977-1978 and served on the governing board for the National Institute for the Deaf.

Survivors include: her son, Bill Harper and his wife Donna of Berkeley, Ca., son Freeman and his partner Dorian J. Dorado of Iowa City, Daughter Phyllis and her husband Dr. Michael Finch of Phoenix, Az., grandchildren Stephen Harper, Michael Finch, Veronica Finch, Alan Finch; her stepchild Ewa Bardach and her husband Hani Elkadi and step granddaughter Nina Elkadi of Iowa City.

She is survived by her sister Pauline Cheesman of Staten Island, N.Y. Several nieces, nephews and cousins also survive her.

She was preceded in death by her first husband Dr. William Harper and second husband, Dr. Janusz Bardach.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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