In Memory ~ Jean John Phillip

In Memory ~ Jean John Phillip

Life Legacy

Jean J. Phillip, 97, passed away Saturday, December 6, 2014 at Highland Park Care Center in Alliance. 

Jean was born November 13, 1917 to Willie W. and Alma M. (Vifquain) Phillip in Flat Top, Wyoming. He was raised near Burton and Springview, Nebraska and graduated from Keya Paha County High School in 1934. 

He was married to Maxine Donovan on April 26, 1941 at the Morrill County Courthouse in Bridgeport, Nebraska. 

He enlisted in the United States Navy on August 29, 1942 and was honorably discharged November 25, 1945 in Shoemaker, California. During his Navy career, he was stationed in Norman, Oklahoma; San Diego, California, and served aboard the USS Long Island in the Pacific Ocean. 

Jean was a career mason, plasterer and bricklayer in the Alliance area, retiring to teach building construction at Western Nebraska Technical College in Sidney, 1973 to 1980. Jean and Maxine returned to live in Alliance in 1980. 

He was a member of the United Methodist Church; lifelong member of the American Legion Post #7 serving as Post Commander 1968-1969; and long standing member of the Bricklayers Union #1. 

His survivors include his wife of 73 years, Maxine of Alliance; his son Jary (Dee) Phillip of Omaha and daughter Judy (Larry) Mann of Alliance; four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren: Jennifer (Tom) Shatel and their children, Sarah, Kate and Anna of Omaha; Alison (Kevin) Streck and their children, Olivia Sikora and Claire of Omaha; Cory (Sherry) Mann and their children, Colter and Chloe of Alliance, and Jared (Melanie) Mann and their children, Keaton and Gavin of Alliance He is also survived by his brothers, Robert Phillip of Hermosa, South Dakota and Leo Phillip of Scottsbluff, and numerous nieces and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Kenneth and his wife Harriet Phillip; sisters in law Bernadine Phillip and Zetta Phillip. Also preceding him in death were in laws, Vivian and Charles Sherlock, Herb and Arleen McFall, and Harold and Ann Donovan. 

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, December 11 at the United Methodist Church in Alliance with Pastor Tom Lucas officiating. Immediately following a private family burial, the family will welcome visitors at a luncheon at the Newberry, 404 Box Butte Avenue. 
Visitation will be Wednesday at the funeral home from 1-7 p.m. 

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Alliance United Methodist Church or a charity of the donor's choice.

Jary Phillip and Larry Mann spoke at the funeral.

Condolence messages are below the pictures.

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Guestbook

12/12/2014 -	Dan Contonis
Dan Contonis has sent this Expressions of Sympathy card.

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12/10/2014 -	Tammi Pierce
Judy we are sorry to hear about your dad. You and your family will be in our thoughts & prayers.

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12/10/2014 -	cindy ellis
Many words describe this wonderful man. Classy kind intelligent. God be with his wife and family.

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12/10/2014 -	Rav Nate Seitelbach
Praying for you all. Very sorry for your loss.

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12/09/2014 -	Tim Cawthra
I was a student of Jean's at WNTC in Sidney. He always impressed me by is knowledge and skill in the Building trades. I went on to become a builder and a vocational teacher at the High School level. Great man and will be missed by all that he taught.

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12/09/2014 -	Carolann & Richard Blanco
Our Sincere sympathies to all of Jean's family and friends. Jean taught us all how to be strong in our convictions but gentle in our actions. He truly touched our lives and our hearts.

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12/09/2014 -	Jerry and Beverley Zwiebel
We were saddened to hear of Jean's death. Our prayers are with you all.

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12/09/2014 -	Sparky Pryor and family
He will be greatly missed. Plenty of great memories. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

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12/09/2014 -	Ruth (Perez) Campbell
I will forever remember Jean as a very kind and gentle man. I loved visiting with him when I worked for the school system. I always enjoyed seeing him and his beautiful wife together as we sang sometimes for everyone at Crossroads. Rest in peace my dear friend. It was my honor to know you.

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12/08/2014 -	Cindy & Don Zurn
Our sypmpathy to your family. Gene was a kind, gentle and wise man. Dad just now reminisced about how Gene taught him how to do arithmetic in grade school, and also installed glass block in their bathroom remodel. I'm sure he touched many peoples lives...and what a life he lived. Cherish your memories!

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12/08/2014 -	Mary Lee & Chris Ehrke
Jean was a wonderful man and will be remembered as a kind and caring husband, father, and grandfather. Our thoughts an prayers are with you.

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12/08/2014 -	Bette Gerlach
Jean was a great guy and he will be missed. Prayers to the family.

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12/08/2014 -	Randy McMasters
My sincere condolences to Jean's family and friends. -Randy McMasters

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12/08/2014 -	Chuck & Kaye Dutton
When a loved one goes home, all the angels rejoice. Our prayers are with your family at this time.

In Memory ~ Harriet Jean Kelly Phillip

In Memory ~ Harriet Jean Kelly Phillip

Eulogy by Pastor Sue of Moscow Methodist Church

Keeping Time

         If you ever visited Harriet’s home, whether it was on Kenneth Avenue, at Good Samaritan Village, or even Aspen Park, you know she loved clocks.  We see one of the most unique ones before us today, her rhythm clock.  I hear there’s some competition in the family over who gets this

one.  There are plenty to go around.  She had 24 clocks, one for every hour of the day.  Kenneth built grandfather clocks.  I’m not sure if he built them because Harriet loved clocks, if she loved clocks because he built them, or if that was simply a common interest.

         There’s a hymn which says, “Time like an ever rolling stream bears all who breathe away.”  We are here today because Sunday morning time bore Harriet away. Towards the last couple of weeks, time had seemed to drag.  It was clear that her body at last was truly failing.  Her children had all come for one last visit.  Her family had told her it was OK to die.  Still she hung on.  I told her, “The Bible says there will be no more mourning or crying or pain.”  I assured her that God had forgiven her for any sins she might have committed.  She was barely able to talk by then, but she did manage to say, “That means a lot.”  Still she hung on.  It was almost as if time had stopped and those who loved her just waited.  Finally, early Sunday morning she died and many of us breathed a sigh of relief.

         She lived so much longer than anyone expected, including Harriet herself.  Ten years ago, not long after Kenneth’s death, she ended up in the hospital in Spokane with heart problems.  She didn’t expect to live for another decade.  When she and Bob got together they knew their combined health problems offered them a very limited future – and they had five years.  Her cancer diagnosis last fall led many of us to expect her death then.  It was not to be.

         Time did not diminish Harriet’s prodigious memory.  She often introduced me to family members saying, “she came to visit me in the hospital in Spokane just after she moved here.”  Honestly, I would have forgotten all about that if she did not remind me of it so often.  

         Sometimes her memory was almost too good.  When talking about the finer details of some long past event, Sharon would say to her, “Your memory is better than mine.”  “I know,” Harriet would reply.

         The Book of Ecclesiastes tells us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”  Surely in her 92 years there have been many times and seasons.  It seems fitting that we gather to remember her on May Day.  As a child she would make construction paper baskets, fill them with flowers or candy and place them by neighbor’s doors and then run away.  As the flowers bloom today I wonder if children still make May baskets?  Today we know the gift of Harriet.  She has not so much run away as she has been born to a new life.

         When she got sick two weeks ago, she knew that her granddaughter Brittney had a bridal shower coming up.  She feared that her illness would spoil the shower.  One of the gifts for the new bride was Harriet’s cookbook. She had typed it out years ago, 70 pages of it, with favorite recipes along with notes about where they came from, who had made them, and other tidbits of history.  Many copies have been made.  It was the highlight of the shower, though a few tears were shed as well.  I hear the new bride may face some challenges in preparing those dishes, however, for some of the recipes are a little vague.  They say things like, “cook until done,” which made perfect sense to Harriet and for a new cook can be confusing.

        

The Cookbook

One of those cookbooks is here today.  I haven’t had a chance to look through it thoroughly.  My guess is that it has her specialties like brownies, donut holes, and Christmas cookies.  A LOT of Christmas cookies.  Truly for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.

         Harriet had time for the important things in life.  She met Kenneth when she worked at the movie theater in Belleville, Kansas popping corn.  Their kids say he loved movies and I’m sure that is true.  I do wonder if the other reason he went to the movies every time he was in Belleville was because she was there.  They married in Belleville and eventually moved to Nebraska where they raised their family.

         I’m sure there were moments as a mother when time ran short for her.  Somehow she got six children up and ready for Sunday School every week, often teaching a class herself.  Then there were Cub Scouts, Blue Birds, and Campfire and all the other things her children were involved in.  Harriet often doubted herself – and she raised a strong, confident daughter along with all those sons.

         She and Kenneth moved to Moscow in 1978 to be closer to several of their grown children.  When Kenneth died in 2004 they had been married for 64 years.  Now that’s what I call keeping time together.

         She built other relationships as well.  She always had renters in the basement apartment, but they were more than renters.  They were friends, and very nearly family.  She build relationships with the people she met at the Friendly Neighbors lunches, even taking one of them home with her while he was being treated for cancer and in the end, marrying him.

         “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.”  After 92 years Harriet’s time to die came at last at 7:30 Sunday morning.  The mystery and the wonder of the faith Harriet had lived for 92 years is that death itself is a form of birth.  The God who knit her together in the first place had a new life in store for her.  Gone is the body wracked with pain, the heart which struggled, and the legs which wobbled so that she needed a walker.  In its place God has given her a new body, a spiritual body, a body raised in power and glory.

         Time like an ever rolling stream bears all who breathe away, they fly forgotten as a dream dies at the opening day.”

         Here’s where that hymn doesn’t fit.  I am confident that Harriet will not be forgotten.  As her clocks tick steadily on, so does she live on.  As her family turn to those old recipes they’ll carry her memory forward.  God who was Harriet’s help for every matter under heaven is now her eternal home.  Today she is timeless.

90th birthday ~ 2011

Obituary ~ Harriet Jean Kelly Phillip, died at the age of 92 in Moscow, ID, on Sunday, April 27, 2014.

2013

Harriet was born November 4, 1921, in Belleville, KS to Harry Kelly and Edith McKowen Kelly.  She graduated from Belleville KS high school in 1939 and went to Central Business College in Kansas City MO.  Harriet married Kenneth Phillip in 1940 in Manhattan, KS.  They were married for 64 years.  She later married Bob Crossin in Moscow ID.  Harriet worked after her children were enrolled in school at the Copsey Clinic in Alliance, NE and later at Crites-Moscow Growers in Moscow, ID, retiring in 1985.

Harriet was a busy homemaker for many years ~ she was a Sunday School teacher, Cub Scout leader, Blue Bird and Camp Fire leader.  Harriet enjoyed decorating cakes for friends and family.  In later years she made a family cookbook for all the family and a book containing stories of interest to the family.  Harriet was a member of the United Methodist Church in Alliance, NE and transferred her membership to the Moscow, ID Methodist Church.  She enjoyed playing pinochle with the Senior Citizens Club and regularly attended the Friendly Neighbor Senior dinners at the 1912 Building in Moscow.

Harriet is survived by her children ~ Ray and Judi, Newcastle, WA; Sharon and Tony Singleton, Moscow, ID; Dick and Cindy, Riverton, WY; Bill and Janet, Cheney, WA; Jim and; Kathie, Green River, WY; and Paul, Westminster, CO; as well as 13 grandchildren, and many great grandchildren, and one sister ~ Bernadine Wolfe of Arizona.

Harriet was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth Phillip (2004); and Bob Crossin (2012), her parents, and two sisters.

Harriet’s funeral service will be held Thursday, May 1, at 2:00 p.m. at Short’s Funeral Chapel, Moscow ID, with Pastor Sue Ostrom (United Methodist Church) officiating.

Graveside services will be immediately following at the Moscow Cemetery.

Shorts Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Friendly Neighbors located in the Senior Center at the 1912 Center, Moscow ID.

1. Janine Haines says:May 4, 2014 at 2:33 pm have just returned from a visit to meet my first grandchild in Alabama, and read in paper about the passing of Harriet. We worked together at the Copsey Clinic in Alliance and became close friends. I was new to the Alliance area, just married and away from my home for the first time. Harriet stepped in and became a “mother,” figure, but also a friend. I enjoyed her and Ken. When I had my first son, Harriet and Ken were back in Alliance on a visit and stopped in with a gift, musical pull toy. I was able to attend their anniversary celebration held in Alliance also. We kept in touch with Christmas cards through the years. I am truly sorry for your loss, she was such a warm, loving, fun person. May you find comfort in knowing so many people cared about her.

   Cindy & Don Zurn says:May 5, 2014 at 3:20 am  Bill & Janet, so sorry on the passing of your mother. I remember her visit to the Knight Museum a few years back. She was very appreciative and grateful of life in general. May your many memories sustain you in the days to come.

Younger pictures of Harriet

1921

graduation picture