Campbell worked other jobs at the university from 1967 until she retired in 1994. She first worked in the personnel and guidance office, and later served as a secretary to the dean of the graduate school at Miami. Between her regular work hours and on-air jobs, it wasn’t unusual for her to put in 60-hour weeks.
Campbell was born in 1922 in Eaton. Her daughter, Gail Campbell, said at the time of her passing that Phyllis often traveled to Cleveland and Chicago by train in the early 1940s to see performances by Jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton. Gail said her mom had “a gift for getting people excited about jazz.”
Thomas Ellison, president of Pure Property Solutions, is a 2008 Miami University graduate and said he became interested in the history of the property at 312 S. Barron St. once he started renovating it. The home has come up in conversation, and Ellison connected with several people linked to its history.
He has also been able to learn more about “Mama Jazz.”
“I got interested, and I requested information from Miami’s archives. Everyone kept saying she was really famous for her voice, so I wanted to hear it,” said Ellison. “I actually saw an interview of her that they did after she retired. I just wanted to hear her voice, and I wanted to see her, and she’s really got a gruff voice that would have been perfect for radio.”
The history is important, Ellison said.
“Where we come from matters, and if I know about the people that were standing in the same spot I’m standing at, 100 years ago, I would want to know that. It tells you about where you are today.”
With 3,096-square-feet of space, the four-bedroom home was built in 1910. The property was purchased “as is” in the late spring of this year for $50,000. The home next to it is a twin.
Ellison has partnered with a friend, Dave Bathe of Bathe Construction, on the renovation project. The renovations will be completed soon, and the property is expected to be listed for sale in mid-September.
“At Pure Property Solutions our purpose is ‘Improving People, Improving Property.’ I believe in the Kaizen method of continuous improvement. It’s something that I talk to my team about all of the time. I want to be a better person tomorrow than I am today, and I want everyone that I work with, or even stakeholders, to be the same way,” Ellison said.
When the restoration began a few months ago, workers used about 14, 20-yard dumpsters to clean out the home, and there was also evidence that dozens of cats had been living there.
“This house, when you walked in there, there was one room where there was junk 4-feet up on the wall, across the entire room,” said Ellison. “What’s fun about renovating a single-family home like this is, this house has not looked great for years. I think it’s been vacant for two-to-three years. You would walk by the alley, the windows were broken out, and you could smell the cat urine from the alley. You would walk out front, and the grass is high…but when we finish a house like this, we’ve improved that community. What we’re really passionate about is making a better home for someone to live in.”
Ellison said he takes pride in “not cutting corners and trying to do everything the right way, and that’s what gets him out of bed in the morning.”
As part of the renovation process, the home has been cleaned out, and some of the electricity and water lines have been replaced. New cabinets have been put in, and new countertops and windows have been ordered. The roof is new, and all of the walls have been primed, for example.
“What touched me the most about this story is every house has a story like this. ‘Mama Jazz’ just happens to be a celebrity of her time, in her genre, and at Miami on the radio…You almost feel like you owe it to those people to try to honor them,” Ellison said.