Phyllis R. Grine

Phyllis R. Grine, 93, formerly of Natrona Heights, PA died peacefully April 6, 2020, in the Hanna Healthcare Center at Longwood at Oakmont in Verona, Pennsylvania.

Born in McCook, Neb., she was the only child of Frederick and Edith Rutt. Phyllis was a 1945 graduate of McCook High School and went on to become a registered medical technologist. For many years, she worked in Tarentum with Associates in Internal Medicine. Phyllis was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church in Tarentum.

Phyllis was an avid cook, famous for her holiday cookies. The Valley Daily News, now the Valley News Dispatch, published numerous articles over the years about Phyllis and her cooking. She took cooking classes from Chef Ferdinand Metz at H. J. Heinz and also studied Chinese cooking with Anna Kao in Fox Chapel. Phyllis traveled to Italy, where she was a student of Lorenza De Medici at Badia a Coltibuono, and attended cooking school in Ireland at Ballymaloe House. Phyllis was a part-owner in the former gourmet food enterprise, Hagerman & Medgus. She was also an avid gardener, well known for her bounty of fresh herbs which she generously shared with friends.

Phyllis also earned a license in real estate and worked briefly during the early 1970s as a realtor with Loynd and Lindquist in Tarentum. She was a former member of the Petal and Twig Garden Club, the Tarentum Book Club, the Oakmont Garden Club and Eastern Star. She was a former member of the Brackenridge Heights Country Club, and Oakmont Country Club.

Phyllis and her husband, Edward A. Grine, Jr., loved driving trips around the country. At one point, they spent three months driving every highway in Alaska in their camper van. Together, they traveled the globe.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her parents; her granddaughter, Christine Elizabeth Brown; and by her husband of 57 years.

She is survived by her son, Frederick E. Grine (Sandra Waddacor) of Shoreham, N.Y., and by her daughter, Nancy Grine Brown of Albuquerque, N.M. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews.