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
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.
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| The Cookbook |
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.
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| 90th birthday ~ 2011 |
Obituary ~ Harriet Jean Kelly Phillip,
died at the age of 92 in Moscow, ID, on Sunday, April 27, 2014.
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| 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.
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.
- 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
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| 1921 |
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| graduation picture |
