Phyllis Joan Ramer

Phyllis Joan (Showalter) Ramer, 85, of Broadway, Virginia, died peacefully April 22, 2026 at Rockingham Memorial Hospital following a stroke.

Phyllis was born on August 27, 1940, in Harrisonburg, Virginia, the oldest child of the late Howard Dewitt Showalter and Elsie Irene (Geiser) Showalter and grew up on the family farm near Broadway as the oldest of six children. Trissels Mennonite Church was her home congregation from childhood and again at the end of her life.

Phyllis graduated from Eastern Mennonite High School in 1958 and completed her nursing degree in 1961 through Eastern Mennonite College and Riverside Hospital in Newport News. On August 19, 1961, she married John Robert Ramer at Trissels Mennonite Church — the same day Robert graduated from Eastern Mennonite College (now EMU). The newlyweds moved to Brooks, Alberta, where they lived for ten months before settling in Edmonton. Phyllis spent most of the next twenty-five years there, working at the University of Alberta Hospital, where she earned her NICU certification and devoted her career to neonatal intensive care while simultaneously raising three boys. In 1987, Robert and Phyllis moved to Scottdale, Pennsylvania, where she worked in pediatrics at Forbes Regional Hospital until they returned to Broadway in 2002, where they retired overlooking her family farm.

Phyllis was a gifted nurse, a gracious hostess, and a strong presence at the center of her family. She was steadfast, caring, and possessed a dry sense of humor. She loved music, opera, bridge, crossword puzzles, playing with children, and good food. Although she rarely spoke of herself, she was the holder of many extended family stories, which she shared generously.

She devoted her working life to the care of premature babies. She worked shift schedules with uncommon energy, rarely took a sick day, and was grateful to have been part of an era when advances in neonatal care allowed more premature babies to survive. Her gift with babies and young children extended well beyond her profession; her children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and the young children at Trissels all experienced her steady, attentive presence.

Phyllis was well known for her hospitality: family holiday meals, bridge club, church small group, knitting club. In the tradition passed down from her aunt Mary Emma Showalter Eby of The Mennonite Community Cookbook fame, she loved to cook for her loved ones and was known for her pies and at least 15 different kinds of Christmas cookies each year. Furthermore, she had an eye for beautiful things such as the china on the table, the napkins, the flowers, decorations for each season, and even the view from the chair you sat in. Time around the table was her gift.