Hearing her mother Phyllis called “Mama Jazz" wasn't odd to her daughter, Gail Campbell of Oxford.
“It fit her. No one was a stranger to her. Everyone was family," she said of her mother, Phyllis Campbell, the longtime WMUB-FM jazz host who died Sunday in Eaton, Ohio. She was 89.
Long before she was a radio personality, Mrs. Campbell worked in the Miami University personnel and guidance departments, where she “always mothered students on her job," recalled daughter Jane Campbell Gordon of Eaton, with whom Mrs. Campbell lived after leaving her radio show in 2006.
“Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'd have students that we didn't know at the house, people who couldn't get home for the holidays, to have a meal with us," Mrs. Gordon said.
She was born in 1922 in Eaton, about 25 miles north of Oxford. After high school, and during World War II, she traveled to Chicago, Cleveland and other cities to see Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet and other jazz greats.
“When dad asked her if she wanted an engagement ring, she said, 'I'd really rather have a record player to play my records.' That shows you how much she loved music," said daughter Gail Campbell, a Miami University information technology employee.
Phyllis Campbell first became involved with WMUB-FM during a late-1970s fund drive. When WMUB-FM staffer Lee Hay heard her stories about Ellington saxophonist Flip Phillips and other musicians, she encouraged her to host a show.
“It fit her. No one was a stranger to her. Everyone was family," she said of her mother, Phyllis Campbell, the longtime WMUB-FM jazz host who died Sunday in Eaton, Ohio. She was 89.
Long before she was a radio personality, Mrs. Campbell worked in the Miami University personnel and guidance departments, where she “always mothered students on her job," recalled daughter Jane Campbell Gordon of Eaton, with whom Mrs. Campbell lived after leaving her radio show in 2006.
“Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'd have students that we didn't know at the house, people who couldn't get home for the holidays, to have a meal with us," Mrs. Gordon said.
She was born in 1922 in Eaton, about 25 miles north of Oxford. After high school, and during World War II, she traveled to Chicago, Cleveland and other cities to see Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet and other jazz greats.
“When dad asked her if she wanted an engagement ring, she said, 'I'd really rather have a record player to play my records.' That shows you how much she loved music," said daughter Gail Campbell, a Miami University information technology employee.
Phyllis Campbell first became involved with WMUB-FM during a late-1970s fund drive. When WMUB-FM staffer Lee Hay heard her stories about Ellington saxophonist Flip Phillips and other musicians, she encouraged her to host a show.
