Yvonne was born in Barbados, West Indies on September 23, 1944, to Joseph and Iola Payne. She would immigrate with her parents, her brothers Charles, Mark, Fitz, Joe, and Alvin, and her sisters Gwen and Joyce to the United States at an early in life, residing in Cambridge, MA. She would graduate from Cambridge High and Latin School (later Cambridge Rindge and Latin School). She would then graduate from Suffolk University with a Bachelors of Science degree. She would then obtain her Master's Degree at Boston State College (later UMass-Boston).

Yvonne was a teacher in the Boston Public School system for approximately 30 years at various high schools throughout Boston. She taught and encouraged a large number of students to pursue their own higher education, especially in her teaching field of Biology. She would end her teaching career in the early 2000s after being a Biology teacher at the Boston Latin School.

She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Reggie Phillips. She also was a proud mother of two children, Iola and Reggie Phillips, and a proud grandmother to one grandchild, Emanuel Schuler.