Friends, students pay tribute to Eleanor Phoenix

It’s been more than three decades since Eleanor (Crisp) Phoenix taught English at Boulder City High School. But that doesn’t matter to the hundreds, if not thousands of students who passed through her classroom during her 25 years at the high school.

The memories and admiration for Phoenix were evident by the number of former students and colleagues who paid tribute to her on a recent post on the Boulder City High School alumni Facebook page announcing her passing on Jan. 16. The post garnered more than 125 comments, many noting that she had been one of their favorite teachers at BCHS.

According to friends, Phoenix was born Feb. 18, 1941 to John T. Crisp and Ferne D. (Marshall) Crisp, in Muncie, Ind. Her father was a supervisory civil engineer on various dam projects for the Bureau of Reclamation and was frequently transferred. This meant her childhood included moving every few years, and for three years they resided in Boulder City. She attended Boulder City High School until her senior year, when her dad was transferred to Carson City and she graduated from high school there in 1959. She wanted to further her education and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado and a master’s degree from Northern Arizona University.

After college, then-BCHS principal William McCormick convinced Phoenix to come back and teach English at Boulder City High School. Later in life, McCormick’s daughter, Susan, and Phoenix became close friends. In addition, Phoenix would later teach Susan’s son, Bill, a 1988 graduate and now a fiction writer.

“Oh, that makes me very sad,” Bill McCormick said of Phoenix on that Facebook post. “She was my favorite teacher in high school and later in life became one of my mother’s best friends. Every time I visited my mom, we’d go out to dinner with Eleanor and have her over for movie night. She was a great teacher, with a wonderful, quirky sense of humor.”

A longtime BCHS colleague and friend, Karen Hodapp, told the Review, “Mrs. Eleanor Phoenix had an extensive knowledge of literature. Thankfully, she didn’t keep it to herself. As an educator, she enjoyed imparting that knowledge to her students. She was an excellent teacher. Over the years, we spent many hours laughing and talking about everything and nothing. She was my friend and I miss her.”

Bruce Momsen, a longtime BCHS teacher and coach who worked with Phoenix for several years, also praised her teaching abilities.

“She was a very classy lady, well loved and respected by teachers and staff,” he said. “She was a great teacher and mentor.”

On that Facebook post, Anna Marie Davis, BCHS class of 1979, wrote, “Such a BCHS icon. She exemplified elegance, intellect, and kindness. She was truly a gift to all of us who were blessed to be educated by her. She didn’t just teach us English, she taught us style, grace, and how to carry ourselves in the world.”

Phoenix was known for being strict, not putting up with classroom interruptions, and expecting the most from her students. What most did not see, according to friends and former students, was what was most important to her and that was helping as many students as she could excel. She took the time to learn about her students and figure out how to make them more curious, more willing to put more into the assignment, give them the courage to express their creativity through writing, to be more than an adequate student, and have confidence in their own abilities.

Rod Woodbury, a 1985 BCHS graduate and former Boulder City mayor, had Phoenix as a teacher his junior and senior year.

“Words mattered to her,” he said. “At every opportunity she taught us new words and helped us use our ever-growing vocabulary in meaningful ways. Mrs. Phoenix’s eyes lit up with fascination and her big, wry smile appeared whenever a passage of inspiring literature touched her soul.

“But she didn’t hoard those epiphanies or the happiness they gave her. She instantly wanted to share. So, she did everything she could to infuse in others her new-found discoveries and resulting joy. Especially in us, her students.”

Woodbury added, “God bless you, Mrs. Phoenix. I hope to see you again one day and thank you properly this time for everything you did for me and so many others.”

Woodbury’s classmate, Bret Runion, said Phoenix was one of his favorite teachers at BCHS.

“I thoroughly enjoyed her class and she definitely helped shape my future,” he said. “I am eternally grateful for that. However, something that I appreciate even more is that we became friends. I would see her around town and we always ended up in a great conversation. She never failed to ask about my sister, Kelly.

“I loved listening to her talk. She just had a way with words and she was so proper. One day I ran into her having lunch and I could not resist a selfie with her. I posted our picture on Facebook and that post immediately blew up. It was truly amazing to see all the wonderful things that so many of her former students had to say about her. At that point, I realized just how many lives she had touched, which is truly inspiring. I thoroughly miss seeing her and those conversations that we shared.”

In addition to Hodapp, Phoenix will be missed by her close friends Paul and Gigi Westbrook and Pat Amon and many others whose lives she touched and will always have a special place in their hearts.

Upon her request, there will be no service.