Dates
Filled with energy and ready to take on any challenge, Anita May Phillips Monk was cherished by family, friends and hundreds of students that she taught over her 31-year career. Born 1/14/36 she was the second of five daughters of Hiram M. and Delma Bishop Phillips. As a third generation San Angeloan, she was proud of her heritage and active in the community. She passed away Sunday morning, November 29, 2020.
A strong work ethic was forged as a child working for her parents at San Angelo's Sheep and Goat Raiser Magazine, owned by her father, where he served as editor / publisher, and her mother, the circulation manager.
Music was her passion with voice as her focus. She was in school and church choirs throughout her formal education and toured with the Baptist Student Choir district representative to state competitions. She also served as the choir representative to the Rainbow Girls division of Eastern Star.
With a scholarship in voice, Anita attended Sul Ross University. It was there that she met Sherman Wayne Monk. They married on New Year's Eve 1956 and she began her teaching career a few months later in Odessa, TX.
The couple lived in Midland while Sherman was a manager at The Core Laboratories, Inc., then moved to Lubbock where he pursued a masters in geology at Texas Tech. They then moved to Pecos where Anita taught Social Studies and Sherman managed Batjer Claims Service. It was there that they bought a small Cessna airplane and learned to fly. Anita became a member of the Pecos Flying Housewives.
In 1966 family and friends were happy to welcome the Monks back to San Angelo following Sherman's career move into catastrophe insurance adjusting. Anita then immediately joined her alma mater, Central High School, where many of her own teachers were now her contemporaries. She taught sociology and history for more than 20 years.
Anita made a significant difference in many students' lives with her caring manner, adventurous spirit and progressive teaching style. She was recognized for exceptional contributions associated with several accredited courses in Social Studies that she developed, including "America in the Nuclear Age", "Foreign Policy in the 20th Century", and "Ethnic Studies". The latter was created after a summer of study at the University of Texas, Austin, under a National Endowment for the Humanities scholarship. She also encouraged modernization of the local school system during her tenure and is credited with changes to the teachers dress code (following a mini-skirt standoff with the Administration).
Anita took her students on many field trips to further their experiences in Texas history and sociology. She expanded these travels to include student tours of Europe throughout the 1980s until her retirement in 1991.
Anita's desire to travel and experience new sites and people was pursued every year until her health slowed her down. Her favorite memories included scuba diving in Belize and Florida, hiking with family throughout Indonesia and Costa Rica, and taking grandchildren on trips to Europe and the Southwest. She and her husband traveled throughout the US, Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean. She also enjoyed overseeing the cow-calf operation on the ranch outside of Mertzon, TX.
Following retirement, Anita served as a board member, officer and volunteer for numerous civic organizations. Among the most important to her were the San Angelo Symphony and Angelo State University’s West Texas Collection, which includes a collection of first edition Texas literature donated by her family. These two organizations reflected her lifetime love of music and history. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the San Angelo Symphony and the West Texas Collection at Angelo State University.
Anita is survived by her husband, Sherman, her children, David Monk, and wife Kelly Monk, and Tracie Monk, and her husband Dan Westrick, and four grandchildren Zachary and Nathaniel Westrick and Riley and Tessa Monk, and sisters Deborah McCullough and Jane White.
A visitation will be held at Harper Funeral Home Saturday, December 5, 2020 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.
Visitation
Saturday, December 05, 2020
2:00PM - 4:00PM
Harper Funeral Home
2606 Southland Boulevard
San Angelo, TX 76904