“When You Touch a Child’s Life”
Words and music by Hank Fridell
with Mrs. Hartman’s 4th Grade Class
©2019 Hank Fridell
Chorus
The world may be much different because
I touched a child’s life
It doesn’t matter, the wealth we possess
When we reach out to a child in need
Mother wouldn’t let me out of the yard ‘till I learned to swim
Then off to the lake, try and touch bottom, when we’d dive
A life filled with kick the can, Lone Ranger, paper dolls
In storms, Buttons ran under the bed and with him we would hide
Born in the Depression, we were poor and lived with grandma
Dad took us downtown, for celebrations after the war
When I read, if the pictures scared me, I hid them with my hand
And Mother would help the hungry who came knocking at our door
Chorus
I went off to college, raised a family, and took a job
I worked for years with Head Start, children, Birth to 3
Parents would tell me they couldn’t have done it without my help
I was an advocate, a resource, a support for families
I took clothes to children in far off Guatemala
Raised two girls and adopted two boys as our own
As a camp counselor when kids had tears, I’d try to ease their fears
We brought together families from rich and poor homes
Chorus
When you touch a child’s life
Phyllis Gies was born on May 28, 1933 in Madison, WI. She was surrounded by lakes, so her mother insisted she learn to swim before she would let her outside of their yard. She was the third of four children, two girls and two boys. Growing up in the Great Depression, their family had very little. Once, a man came knocking on their back door. He had one leg, one arm and one eye and Phyllis’ mom gave him their last piece of bread. This showed her the importance of caring for others. Another childhood memory Phyllis has is the day that World War II ended. Her dad came home from work to pick up her and her sister, and took them downtown. Everyone in town was celebrating!
Phyllis learned to read at an early age and considers herself a “book-aholic”. Her mom would often read to her when she was little. The pictures in “Alice in Wonderland” scared her, so she would cover them with her hand until the page was turned. She liked going to school and lived right across the road from the playground. She would race to make it for the first bell. Her favorite subject in school was art.
For her first job at age 14, Phyllis earned 25 cents an hour babysitting. At age 16, she got a summer job de-tasseling corn for $1.50 an hour. She had saved her babysitting money to pay for drivers’ ed, which was an unusual opportunity at that time. After high school, she went to Augustana College. While in college, she worked in New York City as a camp counselor on the Hudson River. After three years of college, she got married. Ten years and two kids later, she went back and got her degree.
When her daughters Elizabeth and Kathy were 7 and 5 years old, she and her husband adopted two boys, Ronald and Kerry, age 5 ½ and 4 ½ . Elizabeth had asked for a boy for each girl, and that’s exactly what she got! And Phyllis went instantly from a mother of two, to a mother of four!
When her children were in junior high school, Phyllis was approached several times by a friend suggesting she apply for a job with a new program in the school system. Her friend wouldn’t take no for an answer. Phyllis went to talk to the principal at the school and was hired on the spot. The program was called the CFRP – Child and Family Resource Program, working with children age 0-3 years. She was a Parent Coordinator and had a case load of 20 families for the 11 years that the program lasted. The program then became Head Start. Phyllis worked for the Bismarck, ND school district for over 20 years. She was able to fulfill her purpose to help families and make life better for other people.
These days, Phyllis enjoys living in Custer with her husband, Richard, and being a grandma and great grandma. She says her favorite sport would have to be miniature golf, because she can beat her husband! Phyllis also likes collecting Swedish Dala horses, reading, traveling, being outdoors, and playing cards.
Her words to live by are, “A hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kinds of clothes I wore. But the world may be much different, because I was important in the life of a child.”
Thank you, Phyllis, for sharing your life with us!
Thank you, Phyllis, for sharing your life with us!