Mary Phillips

(From Mason-Woodard Mortuary)

Mary Christeena Phillips went to be with our Lord on April 3rd, 2025 at the age of 95. She was born on August 9th, 1929 near Diamond, MO. The only girl surrounded by eight brothers. At the age of around 13 she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior and served Him faithfully for the next 82 years.

At the age of sixteen, she married and moved across the country with Paul Ernest Phillips on July 20th, 1946 in Columbus, KS. The marriage survived 76 years despite the odds. 

Mary adventured with her husband throughout life, from washing laundry on a scrub board, cooking on a wood cook stove, canning and gardening, using every scrap to help provide for her family, always pushing and supporting her children and grandchildren, loving them unconditionally, with no expectation of any credit to herself. She made things workable even in hard and troublesome times. When they settled in Carthage, MO she assisted her husband at their service station with the books and buying parts. Mary was a wonderful mother and grandmother.

Mary is preceded in death by her husband Paul E. Phillips in 2022, Roy and Thelma Hirshey, her father and step mother, Mildred (Boone) and Raymond Sloan, her mother and step father, three brothers, Eugene, Lee Roy, and Jay Dee Hirshey.

Surviving are two sons, Tony Phillips (Beverly) of Los Fresnos, TX, Don Phillips (Tammy) of Carthage, MO, two daughters, Janet Phillips of Carthage, MO, and Paula Phillips of Round Rock, TX.

Also surviving are five grandchildren, Andrew Phillips, Mark Phillips (Rebecca), Heather Segars (Kevin), Danielle Kessinger, and Paul Phillips (April), eighteen great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild.

Services will be held at 1:00pm on Thursday, April 10th at Crossroads Baptist Church in Carthage, MO.