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Phylis DeJesus
Phylis DeJesus
Phylis DeJesus

Obituary of Phylis Coral DeJesus

Phylis Coral DeJesus, also known as Phylis Coral Cain, passed away in the evening of March 14th 2024 on a Thursday. Phylis was born in 1936 on October 25th in the desert of Las Vegas, Nevada during the end of the Great Depression. She was born to her mother Winifred and father Clifford Ackerman. Growing up, she spent many of her young years raising her siblings, she was the oldest sister of nine siblings: Gladys, Chuck, Jim, Norman, Vernon, Glenn, Joanne, and Bernice. They lived a very nomadic life because her father was a laborer, working on many big projects in Nevada and later on at the Oroville Dam.  In her teens, even though she was an incredible scholar, she was pulled out of school to help work after her father suffered from medical complications. She loved her father very much. She sacrificed many things in her life for her family. When Phylis was sixteen-years-old, she married the love of her life known by the name Harold Dean Cain. 

When doing anything, Phylis was precise and incredibly organized. During the fall season, everyone in her family would be tasked to pick all of the best pomegranates from the tree across from their home in Thermalito and she would make the most delicious pomegranate jam, she would spent hours plucking the seeds from each fruit, she would use her whole arm strength to juice the seeds and sift them to make it pure. She had an exceptional green thumb and could grow anything in the ground. Phylis loved to travel, she loved Disneyland and had visited the park well over twenty times. She was the best at making every holiday the grandest event. She loved to collect many different figurines of Jesus and different Disney characters, among the most beautiful dishes and china. 

Her career was a variety of different things from teaching immigrant women to drive stick-shift in San Francisco to her time raising her kids all across the world when her husband Harold was stationed in a variety of places during the Vietnam, Korean, and the Cold War but she lived as a nurse for many years. Phylis worked in the ICU, ER, Med-Surg, and labor and delivery at Oroville Hospital. She also took care of inmates at the Butte County Jail, as well as the children in Juvenile Hall.

After being married to her first husband, the love of her life, for more than forty years, she became a widow twenty-five years ago. Later on she would marry her second husband, Michael DeJesus, they were married for a short time before his passing in 2022. 

Phylis stood strong in her faith with Jesus up until her passing, she was a devoted Christain, She loved her church, she loved God, and nothing ever wavered her faith. The night that Phylis passed on March 14th, she was surrounded by the love of her family. The peace that overcame her face as her soul left, was enough for us to know that she got to enter her spirit paradise. She got to dance with Harold again, she met him in the clouds on her way to the Kingdom.

Phylis was a very protective mother of three, she gifted the world with one beautiful daughter and two sons. In her lifetime, she mothered many children, of which included her granddaughter Leah. Directly because of Phylis having three children, she later on would become a grandmother to three, a great-grandmother to five, and a great-great grandmother to four. She is survived by her sister Gladys Smith, daughter Deanna Cain, son James Cain, her grandchildren Leah Morrow, Shiela Chadwick, Glenn Cain, Anissa Cain, Nathaniel McFaul, Kirsten McFaul, Tyla Branum, Alex Branum, Juliette Cain, Kyren Molaison, Elijah McFaul, and Yasha McFaul.  

A Memorial Tree was planted for Phylis
We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ the staff at Oroville Funeral Home