Phyllis Bergquist Billington died peacefully on Sept. 3, 2016 in Los Angeles, California of congestive heart failure. Born Sept. 25, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois to John and Gerda Bergquist, she lived most of her life in Princeton, New Jersey, before moving to California in 2013. Phyllis was the beloved wife for sixty-five years of David P. Billington, the loving mother of David, Jr., Elizabeth (Donald), Jane (Johnson), Philip (Ninik), Stephen (Miriam), and Sarah (Peter), and proud grandmother of Zoë, Timothy, Susannah, Lucy, Francesca, Rachel, Roy, Daisy, Anna, Clara, and Bram. Phyllis was predeceased by her parents, and her siblings Roy, Howard, Beatrice and Janet.
A pianist from an early age, Phyllis graduated from Northwestern University in 1949, Phi Beta Kappa, and Outstanding Graduate of the College of Liberal Arts. She majored in music and philosophy, and cherished all her life what she learned of analyzing ideas and keeping an open mind. She was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. While still in college, she began modeling, appearing in national publications, and winning the 1948 New York Heart Fund Dream Girl competition. After graduation she moved to New York City to continue her piano study and her modeling career, gracing the covers of McCall’s, Colliers, Look Magazine, and The Ladies Home Journal.
Awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1950 to study piano and harpsichord at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium, Phyllis met fellow Fulbright Scholar David Billington, and they were married in Chicago in 1951. Before settling in New Jersey, Phyllis and David spent their first year together in Ghent, Belgium, continuing their piano and engineering studies.
Phyllis’s life in Princeton was filled with her six children and with music. She co-founded the University League Piano Group and was an active member of the Music Club of Princeton. She appeared in recital at Princeton University for the Friends of Music, and in concerts at the Trenton State Museum. Her “Illustrated Performances,” lecture recitals on Classical composers, took her to audiences in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. She shared her passion, her sensitivity and her scholarship with the Princeton Adult School, college concert series, libraries, retirement communities, community groups, and fellow music lovers. Her piano studio nurtured and inspired countless children and adults for over sixty years; and she was deeply enriched by continuing her own studies with Karl Ulrich Schnabel in New York City from 1977 to 2001.
Phyllis poured her heart into her music, her teaching, her friendships and her family, close and extended, leaving behind lovingly compiled photo albums, scrapbooks and written memoirs. She was a devoted member of Christ Episcopal Church, Glen Ridge, NJ, and Trinity Church, Princeton.
A service in her memory will be held at Trinity Church on Wed. Dec. 28, 2016 at 2:00 p.m.
Memorial donations may be made to Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Road, Princeton NJ 08540, and to The Music Club of Princeton Scholarship Fund, c/o J. Rogers Woolston, 229 Walnut Lane, Princeton, NJ 08540-3459.
