Phyllis D. Derbes
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: Abt 1922 - New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Christening:
Death: 1 Jun 2007 - Metairie, Jefferson, Louisiana, USA
Burial: 5 Jun 2007 - Metairie Cemetery, Metairie, Jefferson, Louisiana, USA
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Maxime Joseph Derbes
Mother: Wilhelmina Marie Delery des Islets
Spouses and Children
1. *Charles J. Eagan Jr
Marriage:
Notes
General:
Phyllis graduated from Tulane University and was the former administrator of Sara Mayo Hospital. She served on the boards of numerous organizations including the New Orleans Area Health Planning Council, the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans Symphony, East Jefferson Auxillary, United Way of Greater New Orleans, the Catholic Foundation, Associated Catholic Charities, and the New Orleans Speech and Hearing Center. She and her husband C.J. also served as chair couple of the Archdiocesan Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. She was a Eucharistic Minister and lector at St. Francis Xavier Church for over 20 years. She was awarded the Great Lady award in 1980 and received the Order of St. Louis Medallion in 1991. Aged 85 years. A native of New Orleans, LA for 50 years. - The Times Picayune
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Phyllis Eagan, hospital administrator, activist Tuesday, June 05, 2007 By John Pope Staff writer
Phyllis Eagan, whose business acumen paid off in her career as a hospital administrator and a volunteer in an array of organizations, died Friday at her Metairie home of complications of a stroke. She was 85.
Mrs. Eagan, who earned a business degree when she was 19 and ran Sara Mayo Hospital for 16 years, "was strikingly and amazingly intelligent," her daughter Phyllis Eagan Cassidy said. "She could run anything. She was a wonderful manager, highly organized."
A native New Orleanian who graduated from Tulane University, Mrs. Eagan got a job early on at Canal Barge Co. Harry Jordan, her boss and the company's founder, described her as his secretary, Cassidy said.
But that was inaccurate, Cassidy said, because her mother was doing accounting for the company and taking care of such matters as scheduling when barges would pick up and drop off loads.
"There was work to be done, and she did it," Cassidy said.
She got the Sara Mayo job in 1956 because her husband, C.J. Eagan Jr., became concerned about the plight of the Irish Channel hospital for poor women and children while he was on the Kingsley House board.
"He asked Mom if she could come in and see what she could do," Cassidy said.
She launched a fund-raising drive that replaced a dilapidated three-story hospital with two modern buildings. Years before civil rights legislation required it, the private hospital was desegregated, and many white doctors brought their black patients there.
Mrs. Eagan persuaded other small hospitals to join Sara Mayo in building a joint laundry as a money-saving service.
She was known for being even-handed, her daughter said. "If a doctor complained about a nurse in most hospitals, the nurse would be called in and reprimanded," Cassidy said. "But at Sara Mayo, as often as not, it was the doctors who needed to be reprimanded."
Mrs. Eagan resigned in 1972 because she refused to go along with the hospital board's demand that she fire the nursing director.
She was a former president of the New Orleans Area Health Planning Council, and she was on the boards of Associate Catholic Charities, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the New Orleans Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the East Jefferson General Hospital Auxiliary, the United Way of Greater New Orleans and the New Orleans Speech and Hearing Center.
In these organizations, "she was a hands-on volunteer," Cassidy said. "She was never just on a board."
Mrs. Eagan and her husband, who became chairman of the Jefferson Parish Council, led the archdiocesan board that was established to help implement the changes in the Catholic Church that were brought about in the mid-1960s by the Ecumenical Council.
At St. Francis Xavier Church, she was a lector and eucharistic minister, and she was a team leader for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network.
Mrs. Eagan also became an activist in her Old Metairie neighborhood, where protracted train blockages of the Metairie Road crossing have long been an inflammatory issue. Once, she parked her convertible next to the tracks so she could count the cars, her nephew Charles Eagan said.
She received the Order of St. Louis IX Medallion from the church, and East Jefferson hospital named her a Great Lady for her volunteer work.
In addition to Cassidy, survivors include another daughter, Delery Eagan Strassel; a sister, Glen Derbes Eagan; six grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
A Mass will be said today at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Xavier Church, 444 Metairie Road. Visitation will start at 9:30 a.m. Burial will be in Metairie Cemetery. Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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Real Estate Transactions By Staff Report - Mar 09, 2006
St. Rose Lot 1-B-2-B River Bend Business Park, St. Rose for $690,000 from Marinox LLC, Robancierose LLC, & Phyllis Derbes Eagan to Prager Incorporated on Jan. 10th.