Phyllis Anne McDonald

Our beloved sister, Phyllis Anne McDonald, went home to the Lord on Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

Phyllis was born Christmas Eve 1946. She was a gift to our family and her many lifelong friends.

Phyllis loved painting and was a very talented artist. She used many different mediums: pastels, charcoal, sketching, pen and ink, and watercolors. Watercolors were probably her favorite. She belonged to the Pass Christian and Gulf Coast Art Associations.

Phyllis was affectionately known as “Tootsie”, “Toots”, and “Aunt Tootsie”. Everyone knew who to call on for costumes, masks, and art and science projects. She could do it all.

Phyllis attended Millsaps College in Jackson and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She was employed with Harrison Security Service at Mississippi Test Facility, the “Test Site”, as we all called it, in 1969. Shortly after Hurricane Camille, Phyllis moved to Jackson where she was employed with the Mississippi Bankers Association as Magazine Editor.

Toots could converse on anything from current topics to ancient history. When we would ask how she knew that, she always replied “I read a lot”. If she made any of it up, which I doubt, she certainly had everyone fooled.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents, Hazel and Elliott “Hooper” McDonald, Jr.; brother-in-law, Mike Pickich, Sr.; and her 2 beloved Shih Tzu’s, Bandit and Cholly.

Survivors include her sisters, Janice Pickich, Laura Pickich (Tom), Nancy Purchner, and Candice Perniciaro (Randy); brothers, Elliott “Buddy” McDonald, III and James McDonald, Sr.; 13 nieces and nephews; and 14 great-nieces and great-nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport. Friends may visit one-hour prior to service. A private interment will take place at a later date. Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15th Street, Gulfport is honored to serve the McDonald family.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to all Phyllis’s wonderful caregivers, nursing staffs, and Pass Christian Fire Department.

We end this, for now, with a song from the late, great, Al Jolsen: “ Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Good Bye”.