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Obituary for Phebe W Erdman

Phebe W. Erdman

Ithaca - Phebe Weeks Erdman, formerly of Ithaca, New York, peacefully passed away at Capital Caring Hospice in Arlington, Virginia, on February 25, 2019, nine days after her 92nd birthday.

Phebe was born on February 16, 1927, in Gilberton, Pennsylvania, to William F. and Phebe May (Davis) Weeks. She graduated from Saint Clair High School in 1943, and attended Bloomsburg State College. While working at radio station WPAM in Pottsville, she met and married Ellis E. (Woody) Erdman. The couple moved to Elmira, New York, in 1952, and to Ithaca in 1956, where her husband was one of the founders of Radio Station WTKO. When Mr. Erdman's business interests took him to New York City, Phebe assumed the position of president of WTKO and Ivy Broadcasting Company, managing the radio station's day-to-day operations until 1981. She then served as bookkeeper for the Wiggins law firm in Ithaca before moving to North Carolina in 1994. In Greensboro, she worked with NC Judicial Branch's Guardian ad Litem program, the William A. Stern Foundation, and the Weaver Foundation. She moved to Fairfax, Virginia, in 2012.

Phebe was very active in community affairs, a longtime member of the Women's Community Building's Board of Directors, the Lutheran Church on Oak Avenue's church council (now Saint John's Lutheran), the Tompkins County Public Library, Tompkins County Hospital Women's Auxiliary, and other organizations. She remained proud of her Welsh coal mining heritage and loved all things Welsh, from Corgis to the writings of Dylan Thomas.

Phebe Erdman is survived by her children, Hans and Ellen (Marsden) Erdman of Isanti, Minnesota; Leslie and Leonid Chekin of Fairfax, Virginia; and Rebecca W. E. and George Edmunds of Roanoke, Virginia; grandchildren Jeannette White and Schawonne Miller of Minnesota; Peter L. Chekin of Paris, France; Cas Edmunds and Emily Roland of North Carolina; and ten great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents William and Phebe Weeks, her husband Ellis, sister Elizabeth Weeks, and brother William Weeks.

Interment will take place at Schuylkill Haven Memorial Park in Pennsylvania when weather permits. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Phebe's memory to Capital Caring Hospice of Arlington, VA.