Phyllis Jordan and her husband, Ross, rented out the third floor of their Minneapolis home to college students in the '60s, regardless of the students' race. Some of the students were from Africa, raising eyebrows in the completely white Kenwood neighborhood. But the Jordans, strong believers in the civil rights movement, weren't concerned what others thought.
"Integration was very important to them," said son Chris Jordan.
Phyllis Jordan, who died at 92 of congestive heart failure on Feb. 8, was a mother, teacher, artist and expert party planner who had strong political beliefs — and lived by them, friends and family say.
Jordan grew up in Minneapolis, attending West High and the University of Minnesota, where she majored in home economics. After college, she toured Minnesota with a radio personality Cedric Adams, giving cooking lessons on newly popular gas stoves.
She liked to say she met future husband Ross Jordan in the alley behind their families' homes. She took out the garbage at strategic times in hopes of chatting him up, said daughter Melanie Jordan.
Jordan married Ross, an engineer and amateur inventor, in 1947, and they had four children. She was bold, outgoing and playful while her husband was quiet and intellectual — a combination that worked for 67 years.
When Ross ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate, she managed the campaign.
"She was a great match to my father," daughter Catherine V. Jordan said. "Sometimes the women don't get the credit, but without my mother, my father couldn't have operated."
