Photo credit: Cecilia Hambrick-Mariaca
Early Years
Phyllis Biffle-Elmore was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of four, she was sent to the tiny town of Livingston, Alabama to be raised by her grandmother Lula Horn (1883-1988), who made beautiful quilts out of the clothing of her loved ones. Each strip of fabric tells the story of the wearer’s life and death. She shared these mostly tragic, sometimes witty, but always moving tales with little Phyllis as she sewed their clothes into a quilt that threaded broken lives back together. Phyllis now shares these profound stories with the world as Grandmother Lula told them to her. At 13, Phyllis reluctantly returned to her parents’ home in Detroit. There, she completed junior high and her first two years of high school before moving to Cleveland, Ohio where she received her high school diploma.
On the right - Portrait of a young Grandma Lula.
Phyllis, 8 years old, standing at the gate that leads to the dirt road outside her grandparents’ home in Livingston, Alabama in 1961. Note: A quilt was just washed and hung on the wire fence on the left.
Phyllis, 11 years old, standing in her grandparents’ dogtrot in Livingston, Alabama in 1964.
Phyllis after arriving back in Detroit. An angry and sad thirteen-year-old in 1967.
Phyllis 1973 in U.S. Air Force Basic Training, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas with friend.
The Military Years
In 1973, Phyllis joined the United States Air Force as a WAF (Women’s Air Force) and was one of the first female B-52 mechanics. She served one tour before joining the U.S. Army National Guard.
Phyllis is one of only a handful of women in the military who served in three major military conflicts. She was a Vietnam Era Veteran who served two temporary duty assignments to Vietnam before the 1975 fall of Saigon. In 1991, she was deployed to Saudi Arabia as a member of Operation Desert Storm. Then in December 2003, as a member of the Army National Guard, she was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Phyllis with Barbara Bush at the 2004 presidential Ball of George W. Bush.
The Civilian Years
After leaving the Air Force Phyllis attended the University of Maryland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Social Work.
Her civilian career included working as a counselor for incarcerated youth and for women who were victims of domestic violence. She also spent ten years as a counseling supervisor for youth and adults suffering from alcohol and substance abuse.
Phyllis visiting the facility she used to work at. (Note: Her surname at the time was Lawson.)
The Writing Years
After retiring in 2013, Phyllis began writing full-time and started her memoir, Quilt of Souls. Soon after, she began promoting her ‘Quilt of Souls’ quilt via lectures and other public presentations. She self-published a portion of her memoir in 2015, which garnered a great deal of buzz from social, print, and television media. As a result of the popularity of her Quilt of Souls exhibit, she has been interviewed and appeared in over 35 media outlets including internet blog talks, online newspapers, social media forums, television, radio, and media advertisements. She has also been a guest speaker at over seventy venues including, libraries, genealogical conventions, quilting clubs, book clubs, colleges, and secondary schools throughout the United States.
Phyllis received her Master’s Certificate in Creative Writing from the University of Denver.