The halls and offices of Winnsboro Independent School District are losing a long-time staff member while the city loses two of its best homegrown assets, as Assistant Superintendent Phillis Brown Stone retires and moves to Hewitt with her husband, Donnie.  

Phillis will be working part time as a coach for Texas Teachers. Donnie has taken a position as a physician’s assistant and will be in charge of Texan Allergy Clinic in Waco.

“I am excited to have time to spend with Donnie and the flexibility to travel with him,” Stone said in a recent interview.

Phillis will be “observing teachers who are in the alternative certification program. I’ll be coaching those teachers and helping them with techniques.”

Phillis and Donnie, a 1977 WHS grad, have been married 36 years. Donnie received his masters from University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas in 2005.

The Stones have three girls.

Ashley lives in Austin and is working on her doctorate at the University of Texas.

Emily Noble, who lives in Emory with her husband Dewayne, a game warden, is a pediatric physician in Sulphur Springs.

Holly Wasson and her husband, Austin, live in Hewitt. She teaches history at Midway Middle School. They both coach.

The Stones raised two of their three girls at their home on Marion Drive.

“Ashley had started college when we moved there,” she noted. “We loved the pool and it was a gathering place for the church youth group and Holly’s friends.”

They are the proud grandparents of Railynn Noble, 4, Kaylie Kate Noble, 3 and Ross Noble, 1.

Stone is the daughter of Elizabeth Brown and the late Jimmy Bruce Brown.

She graduated from WHS in 1979, received her bachelors from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Commerce) and her masters in 2003.

Stone taught math at the middle and high school levels for 20 years.

“Teaching is an opportunity to serve the community and touch the lives of so many children,” she explained. “Seeing the faces of my students light up when they were excited about learning a concept and being successful were my favorite parts of teaching.”

In 2002, she became the district’s math coordinator and taught part-time.

In 2005, she was selected as curriculum director, moving to the central office at Winnsboro ISD, where she was named assistant superintendent in 2014.

“I had a desire to help new teachers and work in the area of curriculum,” she noted. “I enjoy researching new ways to teach concepts and share that with others.”

Stone’s last day with WISD is Aug. 31.

She said she looks forward to playing “at” golf, hiking and becoming active in Baylor Bear activities.

She and Donnie will not become strangers, however.

“We will miss Winnsboro and all of our friends, but we will be back to visit regularly,” she said. “We are excited about a new adventure and will see what God has in store for our future.”