Philip Leslie Pope Jr., 82 of Wynantskill, New York died peacefully on Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at Albany Medical Center with his wife, Judith Pope, by his side.
He was born Feb. 11, 1944 to Philip Leslie Pope Sr and Myrtle Virginia (O’Neal) Pope in Neosho, Mo. Philip was a preacher’s son and the oldest of a large family. He was very quiet and had the kindest heart, the sweetest soul and a wonderful smile.
As a young man, Phil served in the Navy. He lived in Texas, California, Arkansas and Oklahoma before moving to Missouri. After working at two other printing companies, the printing business brought him to Owensville in 1977 to work for a start up company named Custom Printing. He took great pride in putting out quality work. He worked there for 17 years.
He was a member of the local Moose lodge for over 20 years and served as an officer. He loved hanging out with the many good friends he made. The guys on his bowling team called him Po Po. On his farm he loved to hunt and fish. He raised rabbits and had lots of dogs. Occasionally he would have larger farm animals, and a random stray wild animal he decided to care for.
Phil moved to the New York capital district in 2004. He was employed by Curtis Printing in East Greenbush where he worked as a press man and eventually retired. In his time away from work there, he was an avid gardener. A man with a “green thumb”, he was wildly successful in growing his own vegetable garden in his yard and enjoyed not just tending to his garden, but the spring work where the most difficult work took place in preparation for planting. Phil was a communicant of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, where he attended mass regularly with his with Judith and often helped her in the church office where she works and genuinely enjoyed the community fellowship of the church.
Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his former wife of 42 years, and mother of his children, Judy (Whitson) Pope; two sisters, Ginger Fox and Staretta Pope; brother, Jackie Pope, and three brothers in infancy, Jimmy, Thomas and Doyle.
Phil moved to the New York capital district in 2004. He was employed by Curtis Printing in East Greenbush where he worked as a press man and eventually retired. In his time away from work there, he was an avid gardener. A man with a “green thumb”, he was wildly successful in growing his own vegetable garden in his yard and enjoyed not just tending to his garden, but the spring work where the most difficult work took place in preparation for planting. Phil was a communicant of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, where he attended mass regularly with his with Judith and often helped her in the church office where she works and genuinely enjoyed the community fellowship of the church.
Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by his former wife of 42 years, and mother of his children, Judy (Whitson) Pope; two sisters, Ginger Fox and Staretta Pope; brother, Jackie Pope, and three brothers in infancy, Jimmy, Thomas and Doyle.
He is survived by his wife Judith Pope; five daughters, Tammy Halbrook of Wentzville, Teresa Kalkbrenner and husband Tim of Union, Elizabeth Pope and significant other Rick Viets of Imperial, Shelly Pope and significant other Jeff Klamberg of Fenton, and Jessica Pope and husband Dustin Hudson of Ballwin; siblings, Janice Pope, Alice Pope, Ernie Pope, Steve Pope, Dallas Pope, Rella Moore, Russell Pope, Gerald Pope; 18 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
A mass of Christian burial was celebrated for Phil on Tuesday, March 31 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Watervliet, New York with Monsignor Donald Rutherford officiating. Interment was at St Patrick’s Cemetery in Watervliet.
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