Robert R. Phillip, 96, of Hermosa SD died Saturday, July 21, 2018 at the Rapid City Hospice House.Public memorial services will be held on Saturday, August 25, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge in Hermosa SD.
Graveside services will be held at the Alliance Cemetery in Alliance NE on Saturday, September 15, at 2:00 p.m., followed by a gathering of family and friends at the Masonic Lodge in Alliance NE.
A memorial has been established by the family.
Born: September 10, 1921 in Springview NE.
Death: July 21, 2018 in Rapid City SD.
The obituary:
Robert R. Phillip September 10, 1921 - July 21, 2018
Robert R. "Bob" Phillip, 96, of Hermosa, and formerly of Alliance and Scottsbluff, Neb., finished his work on Saturday, July 21, 2018. The third of four sons, he was born on Sept. 10, 1921, to Willie Walter and Alma Mary (Vifquain) Phillip on their Springview, Neb., farm. Their lives on the farm were chronicled in black and white photos taken by Alma and published in book form in 1978, "Next Year Country." They lost the farm in 1934, a sad but common occurrence of the time. The family moved to Alliance and applied themselves to whatever work they could find.
During his school years, Bob delivered newspapers and worked as a stockboy for Rhoad's, an upscale ladies' wear emporium. Bob became a carpenter at the age of 5 when he built a pen for a runt piglet from a wooden apple crate. While still in high school, he worked for a carpenter who, after Bob's near- disastrous encounter with a gasoline engine-powered table saw, gave him the first rule for a successful career - "If you don't understand machinery, leave it alone." His children heard that phrase a lot while growing up, and now Bob's grandkids hear it, too.
Across the street and a few houses down from their home in Alliance lived a family named Colling. Bob met the daughter of that house, Alma Bernadine "Be," and watched her roller skate and play jacks with her friends "until they nearly wore a hole in the sidewalk." Bob and Be graduated together from Alliance High School in 1938.
With the beginning of World War II, Bob enlisted in the Navy in February, 1942, and was sent to basic training and carpentry school in Tiburon, Calif., where he was rated Carpenter's Mate 1st class. That summer, Be Colling and her sister-in-law took the train from Alliance to California, ostensibly to visit Be's brother Floyd, also in the Navy. In later years, Be's mother said, "We knew she was really going out there to marry Bob." Bob and Be married on Aug. 6, 1942, in San Francisco, where they resided until Bob was stationed at the torpedo net depot on Adak in the Aleutian Islands, and Be returned to Alliance.
After enduring 20 months of mud, snow, ice, a constantly smoking volcano and "mosquitoes the size of B-52s" on Adak Island, he was assigned to the troop transport ship APA-120 Hinsdale. The Hinsdale delivered Marines and landing craft to Iwo Jima, and on February 23, 1945, Bob watched through the ship's gunsights while the Marines raised the last U.S. flag on Mount Suribachi. Afterwards, they transported wounded Marines to the hospital on Guam. Early on Easter Sunday morning, April 1, 1945, the Hinsdale was transporting Marines to Okinawa when a kamikaze struck the ship's boiler room at the waterline. The inrushing cold seawater caused the boiler to explode, killing all hands but one in the room at the shift change. Bob was one of the first on the scene with the damage control crew, and they managed to shore up the ship enough to slowly make their way to Ulithi Atoll for further repairs.
After the war, Bob returned home to his growing family and his profession of carpentry, working his way up from carpenter to foreman to job superintendent. In the post-War years, he built schools, churches, homes, a college, a shopping mall and low-income housing.
In his spare time, he built a beautiful home for his family in Alliance. In 1974, he began building and remodeling banks. On one occasion, his employer was awarded a contract to remodel a bank "only if Bob Phillip will be running the job." Bob worked in Nebraska, Idaho, South Dakota, Iowa, Missouri, Colorado and Wisconsin. He took great pride in everything he built, and it showed.
Bob's involvement with the Masonic fraternal organization was very important to him. He was a member of the Alliance Lodge #183 for 72 years, and in that time he only missed one of their annual reunions. While attending his last reunion in November, 2017, it was speculated that he was the oldest active Mason in the Southern Jurisdiction, and most likely in the entire world. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Court of Honour in 1981, and coroneted a 33deg Inspector General Honorary in 1991. He maintained a dual membership with the Battle River Lodge #92 in Hermosa. Bob was gratified to see his son, grandsons, great-grandson and a nephew follow him into the Masons.
Retiring in 1987, Bob and Be bought property in Hermosa and built a home. Bob planted trees and, over the course of several years, built a dry-stone retaining wall nearly 250 feet long and up to 12 feet high. There were several occasions when Bob would return home to find a big pile of rocks for the wall in his driveway, uprooted from the hill behind his home by kids and grandkids, with a birthday or Father's Day card secured on top. He baked his favorite pineapple upside-down cakes (made the "right" way) and enormous batches of banana bread. Bob and Be traveled often, going to visit family and friends around the country, and also to World War II reunions with Bob's Hinsdale shipmates.
Bob spent many hours in his workshop, building everything from snake cages to cat condos to beehives to a scaled-down replica of Noah's Ark. He made a beautiful curio cabinet for Be and bookshelves and computer desks for his daughters. He repaired and restored chairs and buffets and a century-old rocking horse. Everything Bob built with his huge calloused hands was built to last. The things that he repaired and restored, he found a way to make them stronger, last longer, or work better than when those things were new. All the time we worked with him in that workshop, he told us wonderful stories about his work and his life.
Along with the joys, there were tragedies. The loss of two beloved grandchildren in 1997 devastated the family, and Bob was our rock. A few years later, Be's major heart attack left her disabled. For the next nine years until her death in 2009, Bob cared for Be at their home and taught us the true meaning of devotion. Bob's health declined over the past several months, and he died Sat., July 21, at Hospice House in Rapid City, surrounded by his children. Preceding him in death were his wife of 66 years, Bernadine; grandchildren, Deric Dietrich, Dawn Dietrich Krutzky and her husband, Joseph Krutzky; son-in-law Dallas Dietrich; and his brothers and their wives, Kenneth and Harriet, Jean and Maxine, and Leo and Zetta Phillip. He is survived by his children, Janice (Archie) Lawrence, Alliance; Don (Verlene) Phillip and Roberta (Jerry) Upton, Hermosa; Mary Dietrich, Keystone.; and Randall Phillip, Philip; grandchildren Walt and Scott Phillip, Longmont, Colo.; Terry Phillip, Box Elder; Brian Lawrence, Seattle, Wash.; Kyle Lawrence, Elm Creek, Neb.; Desirae Jesse, Murrieta, Calif.; Tom Lawrence, Fountain Hills, Ariz.; Adrian Benham, Castle Rock, Colo.; Elizabeth Williams and Alma "Callie" Upton, Hermosa; and Alex Upton, Ft. Collins, Colo.; great-grandchildren Dayn, Joey and Geoffrey Phillip; Nyx Holaday; Dylan Thompson; Henry, Carter and Emelia Lawrence; Megan and Caitlynn Jesse; Cody Williams; Gemma Upton; and Wynn and Vivian Benham; great-great-granddaughter Serena Holaday; numerous nieces and nephews; and his devoted little dog, Daisy Mae. Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Sat., Aug. 25, at Battle River Masonic Lodge #92 in Hermosa.
Graveside services will be 2 p.m. Sat., Sept. 15, at the Alliance Cemetery, with reception and fellowship following at the Alliance Masonic Lodge #183.
Memorials may be made to the Scottish Rite Remodeling Fund, c/o Alliance Lodge #183, P.O. Box 754, Alliance, NE 69301; Battle River Masonic Lodge #92, P.O. Box 392, Hermosa, SD 57744; Meeting the Need (a non-profit organization established by Bob's late son-in-law to benefit the disabled), 13880 Greyhound Gulch Rd., Keystone, SD 57551; or a charity of the donor's choice.
Online guestbook is available at www.osheimschmidt.com
The memorial service:
This pictures shows wooden box made for Bob and Bernadine by son, Don (with the help of Jerry Ellerman, a family friend).
Below are picture boards made by Bob's family for the memorial services:
Below are pictures of Bob through the years...
Information about Bob written by his mother (Alma Phillip)
His mother drew his hand at seven months.
Bob at a very young age.
A little older ~ climbing a fence
The Navy in the 1940's
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| Bob, roller blading in Idaho in the 1990's |
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| Bob when he visited Sharon and Tony in the California desert with Leo, Ray and Judi and Julie (2010's) |
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| Bob in Dean and Becky's 1928 Model A in Lincoln (2010's) |
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