Phyllis Scruggs-Soldo (1940-2025)

Phyllis Scruggs-Soldo (1940-2025)
CHS Class of 1959

Ernest Hemingway once said, “The echoes of beauty you’ve seen transpire, resound through dying coals of a campfire.” The campfire of Phyllis Scruggs-Soldo went out last month, after a long battle with Leukemia. And yet, family and friends continue to warm themselves next to the coals of her memory.

Phyllis Scruggs, of English/Welsh descent, was born Oct. 2, 1940, in Tulsa, Oklahoma as the second of three children to Janice Twilla Saunders and Tremont Herschel Scruggs. Her mother was a home maker and later worked in the school cafeteria before becoming a hair stylist. Her father managed a supermarket in the Midwest, and later was the produce manager at the Coronado Safeway.

Much of her professional career was spent in partnership with her husband Nicholas Soldo, an anesthesiologist, working together at their business, the Arizona Vein Institute, where he specialized in his field of anesthesiology, and she with her expertise in facial rejuvenation.

They loved horses and spent three decades in Arizona and ten years of those were spent catering to his Arabian and her Paint – two very special horses.

“We rode all over the desert by horseback,” said Nick. “We would camp out a week at a time, covering the mountains and desert, and usually with a very small group of friends, and a cowboy to keep the rattlesnakes away,” he laughed.

They met when she was 52 and Nick was 58, and considered their late-in-life meeting a magical thing. He was a single father of five children, and Phyllis raised them like her own, of which she had two from a prior marriage.

Nick and Phyllis celebrated their love every Thursday night at Chez Loma Restaurant with wine and hors d’oeuvres – same table, same menu selections, same waiter. “I loved Cabernet and she loved Chardonnay,” said Nick with a laugh.

Every Sunday was “Pasta Sunday,” said Nick. “I took great delight in coming up with exotic and delicious Italian recipes to create for her. We lived out the rest of our lives madly in love and in constant company of one another.”

The two of them spent an enormous amount of time traveling and visiting the Amalfi Coast, in Salerno, Italy. Friends continue to talk of the love Phyllis and Nick shared.

“Phyllis was three years old when the family moved from Oklahoma. After a brief time in Los Angeles, they settled in Coronado in 1943,” recalled daughter Lisa. “At the time Coronado was not the sought-after real estate it is today.”

Phyllis had two brothers, Monty and Howard. The family enjoyed the quaint small-town Coronado lifestyle with all her siblings graduating from Coronado High School. The Scruggs family lived in several homes on the island before settling on Encino Row in 1959, where it’s been the family home ever since.

Phyllis attended Coronado Elementary School, Coronado Junior High School, and Coronado High School (Class of 1959). She attended Oklahoma State College for one year but her mother wanted her back in Coronado, so Phyllis put her college education on an extended hold.

She married a naval officer in 1960, had two children (Lisa & David). That marriage wasn’t working, and Phyllis divorced and became a real estate agent in Coronado. She loved Coronado and had many friends from her youth that she stayed in close contact with her entire life.

“Phyllis was a real beauty, for sure,” recalled friend Patsy Flynn. “She made both the Homecoming and Beauty Court in her senior year at Coronado High School, and was head majorette. She was just a beautiful, very loving lady who always had positive things to say about everyone. She was very kind, and loved her husband Nick very much.”

She competed in numerous beauty pageants. Ironically, Phyllis’ beau and Homecoming date at CHS was Mike Flynn, who would become Pat Flynn’s future brother-in-law.

“Phyllis has always been the most well-groomed person through the years,” said Ky Winchester, another friend from high school. “She was kind and fun to be with. I remember that she was a member of the Dizzy Dozen, 12 of us that did a little performing at the Hi Jinx, and we all have special memories of those high school adventures together.

“She always struck me as being confident and poised (not everyone was in our high school days). Through the years she maintained her confidence. She always seemed so calm and together through the years — always looking her beautiful best,” remembered Ky. “She was lovely, and we all loved her. Then, she met Nick, and that turned out to be the love affair of the century.”

Daughter Lisa remembered her mother’s transition to Arizona and then back to Coronado. “Mother relocated in 1977 to Scottsdale, Arizona, where she started her own appraisal business and then found her passion in the cosmetic industry, where she worked for Chanel.

“She met Dr. Nicholas Soldo in 1992 and later married in 1995. They went on to build a wonderfully successful medical practice in Scottsdale, where they worked side by side until his retirement in 2012. They then relocated full-time to Coronado, her hometown.”

Phyllis loved to snow ski and power walk. She loved golf and Bridge. She was a member of the Golf Club at DC Ranch in Scottsdale, the San Diego Bridge Club, and was an active member of Sacred Heart Church in Coronado.

She had a close relationship with God and came to be a major player (along with her husband Nick) late in life at Coronado Sacred Heart Church. Father Murphy had baptized her in 2012. Later, despite a full Sunday schedule, he visited Phyllis, performing Last Rites. Phyllis died peacefully, at home, with Nick by her side, June 23 at the age of 84, of Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

She is survived by her husband Nicholas Soldo of Coronado. She is also survived by her daughter Lisa Williamson (Dan), Park City, Utah; a son, David (Cheryl) of Lander, Wyoming; 11 grandchildren and five great grandchildren, who all lovingly referred to her as “Nana.” Phyllis was survived by younger brother Howard, and was predeceased by her older brother Tremont.

Phyllis will be interred at El Camino Mortuary, next to her mom, her dad, her brother, and four dogs.

A celebration of life will take place September 13 for family and close friends at Il Fornaio Cucina Italiana, a favorite haunt of hers. Invitations will be sent. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made, “In Memory of Phyllis Scruggs,” to DeTommaso Dogs Rescue, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and re-homing dogs off the streets of Baja California. Donations may be sent to:

[email protected], or https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/36e24edc-4e71-477a-9cae-49140cafea57.