'I love people,' says Phyllis Roosendaal after four-plus decades with Gillies

By Elisa Claassen For the Tribune

LYNDEN — This isn’t the first retirement for Phyllis “Boots” Roosendaal. This time, however, she said it’s for real.

Gillies Funeral Home advertised an open house for long-time support services employee Roosendaal with a nice big picture and lots of cake and goodies on Thursday, March 30.

As the well-wishers and family came through, Roosendaal greeted them graciously as she has a lot of experience in that very thing – 45 years’ worth from three facilities. Roosendaal said she will now have more time for doing other things she enjoys. When asked how old she is, Roosendaal replied, “86.”

How did she come to work in the funeral industry? Had she planned to do that field in her teen years?

As Roosendaal sat with coworker Cindy Alsum at the party, they both agreed neither of them had planned for it but both enjoyed doing it.

In Roosendaal’s case, she was an active dairy farming wife with a farm on Depot Road in Lynden that had won Washington Dairy Family of the Year in 1973. She did this while raising the family’s four daughters.

Eventually, the farm was sold to now-ice cream giant Edaleen Dairy in 1976. Then the family transitioned to a new home they had built on a hillside on Guide Meridian in the Laurel district.

Friends came to wish them well, friends that included the owners of Westford Funeral Home, Jack and Nancy Westford.

The Westfords had purchased their business from family in 1975 and who also served on an agriculture committee, asked what Roosendaal intended to do next with her spare time.

Roosendaal didn’t know. The Westfords had an idea: Roosendaal could work for them. She ended up watching the embalming process with Jack Westford standing there for support. He wanted to see if she was comfortable with the process and would be more understanding if families asked questions.

“I was fine with it. I stayed. Every day is different,” she said of the industry.

Roosendaal drove hearse to the crematory in Mount Vernon, assisted with body removals as the second person, and met airplanes at SeaTac Airport for bodies being transferred from other locations.

Eventually, Roosendaal became noted for her caring attitudes with the families. None as those things were as difficult as dealing with some of the deaths such as a suicide, she said. Even then, Roosendaal said she was intent on giving strength to the families.

“I love people,” she said.

With another gap time away from the funeral business to travel with her late husband, Don, Roosendaal had a similar experience happen with Gillies Funeral in 2007 with past owner Don Smith after he had performed her husband’s funeral.

Roosendaal stopped by

See Roosendaal on C9