Phyllis Sudds, 76, of Wheaton, a former research biochemist for the Atomic Energy Commission whose true calling was her 30-year career teaching piano, died Sunday, Dec. 29, in Wynscape Healthcare Center in Wheaton of heart failure. Born and raised in Rockford, Mrs. Sudds graduated from Rockford East High School with honors. She studied science on a scholarship at Rockford College and, after graduating, obtained a scholarship to Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where she received her master’s degree in biochemistry. Mrs. Sudds then went to work with the Atomic Energy Commission as a biochemist performing radiation research at the University of Chicago. She met her future husband, Chester, and the couple were married in 1952. After the birth of her first son, Alan, Mrs. Sudds became a homemaker, and the family moved to Wheaton in 1955. “It was then that she took up her true avocation,” her husband said. Mrs. Sudds began teaching piano out of her home and at any given time would have between 20 and 25 students. During the Christmas holidays each year, Mrs. Sudds would host a recital in her home, and in the spring another would be held in Gary Memorial United Methodist Church. Mrs. Sudds was a chairwoman of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association in 1975 and 1976. She also was the accompanist for several groups, including the Elizabethans and Methodist church groups. She also was past president of Gary United Methodist Women and a former officer in Chapter EN of the Women’s Society of PEO, a philanthropic women’s organization. “Phyllis was always busy, and she always liked to be busy. She only took time off to have our children,” her husband said. “The whole family was musical, and she was the instigator. Our daughter, Karen, who died last May, was as good a pianist as her mother.” In addition to her husband, she is survived by her sons, Alan and Andrew, and two grandsons. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton. Services will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday in Gary Memorial United Methodist Church, 224 N. Main St., Wheaton.
