Obituary for Phebe Ann Prescott Greenwood December 13, 1957 – November 2, 2025

Phebe Ann Prescott Greenwood, a beloved mother, wife, sister, friend, and Christian lifelong seeker of truth and fairness, passed away peacefully in her husband’s arms on November 2, 2025, after a year-long fight with colorectal cancer at the age of 67. Born to Dr Richmond Prescott and Anne Lee Fitzhugh Worthington on December 13, 1957, in New York City, Phebe grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts in a family that provided conditional love based on academic and career success and graduated from Andover ’74, Stanford ’79 (BA IR) and Harvard Kennedy School ’86 (MPP). She met her future husband at Stanford University.

Phebe’s family on both sides played a historic role in the creation of the United States. Phebe has 7 or 8 ancestors who came over on the Mayflower, including names like Allerton, Brewster, Standish and Howland. On the Prescott side, you can Google Prescott Washington Seahorse for one reference and Prescott Revere for another. One of her Prescott forefathers personally funded all the Massachusetts regiments in the Civil War. On her mother’s side, there is Richard, Lighthorse Harry and Robert E Lee, followed by Zachary Taylor and many other historic figures such as Robert “King” Carter and William Fitzhugh, two of the largest colonial landholders in Virginia and Maryland respectively. Phebe felt an obligation to live up to the legacies of her many accomplished forefathers.

Early in her professional life, she lived and worked in Togo, Africa, a country known for its corruption, on a USAID water project that provided clean water to local villagers. Her project never paid bribes, upholding a strict faith-based anti-corruption standard maintained throughout her career.

Later highlights in her career included several years serving as the Chief Economic Policy Advisor to the California Public Utilities Commission and more years as an Economic Policy Senior Analyst for the Virginia Department of Transportation. For the final phase of her career, Phebe was a Project Manager working in Washington DC.

After eight years of courting, in health, Phebe married Douglas Greenwood on August 10, 1985, and together had four children. Phebe was known for her immense warmth, quick wit, and keen ability to make others feel seen and valued. Her vast network of friends often said that being in Phebe’s presence felt like entering a space of calm sincerity and genuine connection. She was a fiercely loyal friend, and a source of wisdom who offered guidance without judgment, but after 15 years of marriage, her enthusiasm faded. She became more career focused, cynical of her husband and filed for divorce. With the divorce, Phebe had custody of the children and ultimately succeeded in eliminating the father’s visitation rights, but as the children became adults, they left their mother and most rejoined their father. Phebe now had time to focus on her career alone.

In 2006, Phebe fell mortally sick with a ruptured bowel while at work. This diagnosis, untreated, normally kills patients within 3 hours, but Phebe’s surgeons took 13 hours to diagnose her condition. Miraculously, major surgery saved her life but left her with the prospect of facing a long painful recovery all alone. Her estranged family rallied to support her through her discharge from the hospital with visits, gifts, and phone calls. Once at her home, Phebe stated that she felt alone and lonely, and asked her ex-husband if she could visit her children at his home and he responded, “Of course you can. You are their mother.” Subsequent visits led to their full reconciliation with Phebe moving in and living with her ex-husband, now partner, and their children in his home, and, perhaps for the first time, she felt unconditionally loved. Phebe’s unlikely recovery left her with a feeling that she had been spared for a reason and that God had a greater plan in store for her. Phebe abandoned her focus on her career and focused on living God’s greater plan by touching countless lives through her generosity and steadfast support of the people she loved. Her greatest joy came from her family, and she was a nurturing caregiver. Ironically, with this transition, she also entered the most successful phase of her career life.

Phebe’s father, Richmond Prescott, was a Harvard graduate who then went on to Harvard Law School where he graduated magna cum laude before he went to Columbia Medical School specializing in internal medicine and cardiology. Phebe had spent much of her life unsuccessfully seeking her father’s favor, but some time after the reconciliation, Phebe’s father began to respect and admire his daughter for the first time. Phebe’s father had a lifelong journal that he made entries in daily, and after his epiphany about Phebe, he burned his journal. Phebe’s life profoundly changed the lives of many others.

In October of 2024, Phebe and her partner went on a 10-day missionary trip to the Uganda Christian University (UCU) to attend the graduation of the second class of UCU students in the medical school. At the end of the trip, they went on safari. After the safari, Phebe became very ill and required an IV to rehydrate. The next morning Phebe survived the 7-hour drive back to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, where she was admitted to a local hospital. There Phebe received an additional 3 days of IV fluids and antibiotics before successfully boarding a 20-hour flight back to Virginia with a stopover in Rome. It was at the stopover when Phebe heard God say that she would survive this flight. Upon arrival in Virginia, Phebe was whisked to the hospital where she was immediately quarantined and then rushed into surgery. The doctors were astounded that she had survived 5 days with a rupture, was allowed on the plane and that she had survived the flight. The radical surgery was completed November 2, 2024, and left her with a diagnosis of stage IV colorectal cancer with a 3-month life expectancy, both with and without chemotherapy. Phebe elected to use repurposed medications followed by treatments at the Oasis of Hope hospital in Tijuana, Mexico and massive prayer support from her local church and friends in Uganda. Through these efforts, her 3-month expectancy was extended to a full year of priceless cherished memories.

Phebe, in sickness, remarried her ex-husband on August 11, 2025, forty years and one day after their first marriage.

Phebe triumphed in overcoming numerous trials and difficulties throughout her life that would have crushed most. By receiving Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, Phebe knew that by the grace of God, she had eternal life. In the face of these mortal challenges, she loved God, her husband, her children and darling grandchildren with all her heart, mind and strength. She fought gallantly to the very end fighting the good fight of faith knowing that the crown of life awaited her in heaven (James 1:12). Phebe faced her own passing with resilience, grace, and a quiet strength that inspired everyone around her.

Phebe is survived by her sisters, Ellen and Molly and by her husband, Doug, their four children, Phebe B, Elizabeth, Douglas R, Hannah and three grandchildren.

Phebe leaves behind a legacy of compassion, curiosity, and love inspired by her unwavering faith in Christ, for she knew experientially: to live is Christ and to die is gain. Her legacy will continue to resonate through the stories she shared, the traditions she upheld, and the many lives she touched. Phebe is a credit to the legacies of her forefather’s.

Phebe Ann Prescott Greenwood will be deeply missed and forever cherished. May her memory be a blessing and her praise for the Lord be an inspiration.

A memorial service will be held on February 21, 2026, at 11:00 AM EST at the Church of Epiphany Anglican, 3963 Centerview Drive, Suite 100, Chantilly VA 20151. Food will be served. Send RSVPs to douglasgreenwood@gmail.com.

We want to take this opportunity to collect all pictures, videos or memorabilia of Phebe. Please use the following shared OneDrive location to create your own file to upload any videos and/or photographs you may have:

(please copy/paste to browser to follow link below)

https://tinyurl.com/huzjww2h

Meanwhile, be sure to check out Phebe’s Celebration of Life video below at this site!