Mrs. Margie Elizabeth Sullivan-Phillips' Obituary
MARGIE ELIZABETH SULLIVAN-PHILLIPS
BORN AUGUST 11, 1917, PASSED TO HEAVEN ON JULY 5, 2014, AGE 96.
PRECEDED IN DEATH BY HER PARENTS, CLEVELAND AND BERNICE SULLIVAN; HER BELOVED HUSBAND OF 62 YEARS, LEE T. PHILLIPS; HER TWO SISTERS, ANNIE MAY AND LUCILLE, AND NUMEROUS OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS. SO FAR AS IS KNOWN, SHE WAS THE LAST SURVIVOR OF HER GENERATION SURVIVED BY HER TWO SONS, KARL LEE PHILLIPS AND FARRELL JAN PHILLIPS; TWO GRAND DAUGHTERS, JOANNIE TERESA PHILLIPS-MASHBURN AND BETHANY LEA PHILLIPS; ONE GRANDSON, DAVIS PHILLIPS; TWO GREAT GRANDSONS, ANDREW AND MILES MASHBURN, NEPHEW WAYNE CLANTON, 4 DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW, SUSIE SILK, NANCY PHILLIPS, BETTY PHILLIPS, AND IRIS KLEIN; AND NUMEROUS NEPHEWS AND NIECES. On a rainy night in August, Margie Sullivan was born in a country house deep in the woods somewhere off the modern Red Bluff Road near Seabrook, Texas, with no doctor in attendance. Her father was off in the night searching for the doctor who was out on other calls. Nevertheless, she was healthy and grew up strong. She needed to be, as she was the second of three daughters, caught between two rather strong-willed, rambunctious and contentious sisters. I suppose she naturally had to assume the role of peacemaker which served her and others well in her adult years. Most of her young years were spent in Highlands, Texas where her parents owned a number of acres fronting on the San Jacinto River where she spent a lot of time fishing and watching her mother shoot alligators. Her teenage years were spent in La Porte, Texas where her parents owned a restaurant on Main Street during the Depression years. She and her sisters all worked in the restaurant and she especially remembered car-hopping for the customers who drove up to the curb in front. Evenings were spent with the sisters gathered on the large upstairs porch which overhung the sidewalk, eating raw peanuts and watching the activities out on Main Street. The building has been refurbished and is still there. She graduated from La Porte High School and would have been Texas State Spelling Champion had her team partner not stumbled in the last round and missed a word they both knew how to spell normally. During World War II, she was a welder at Todd Ship Yard on the Houston Ship Channel, helping build many of the transport ships needed for the war effort. One of the original "Rosie the Riveters." Later she worked as a salesclerk at Sakowitz in Houston and then for many years at Sears in Pasadena in the Children's and Infants Department at the old Sears where Wal-Mart now stands at Shaver and Southmore streets. As fate would have it, she married a contentious, strong-willed man who had two contentious, strong-willed sons. This of course made for contentious and strong-willed clashes all our lives. Through it all, she was the lone, steadfast pillar of refuge and righteousness for all concerned. She had the capability of never actually choosing sides, but could lend a sympathetic ear and quiet , but good advice to whoever needed it and had sense enough to listen. To the extent that our contentious family held together, it was totally due to her. Her gentle ways were so soft and subtle, that it was only in her last years that I came to fully appreciate how much goodness she had contributed through the years. I am now 71. Twelve years ago I was fortunate enough to be called upon to assist her and my daughter as Mom went through a very dangerous colonectomy for colon cancer. I left my home in Colorado and came to Pasadena fully expecting that I was coming to bury my mother. But she survived the operation and its follow-up Staph infection, went through rehab, and came home in fairly good condition, but it was necessary that I stay and assist her, with the very valuable help of my daughter, Bethany. The Next twelve years were times of Health stability followed by a decline and recovery back to a level somewhat diminished from her previous levels. Two happy memories from this time: I had never truly realized what a fine and keen sense of humor she had. Perhaps that is why she could handle hard times as well as she did. Also, she loved to travel and we were able to make a few short trips around Texas. We would not be long in the countryside before she would break into a rousing rendition of the song "Beautiful, Beautiful Texas." Soon we would all be passing through the pastures of heaven singing the glories of our beautiful, home State. These were Good Times! My daughter and I were very fortunate to experience them. In her last few years her main pleasures were attending First Baptist Church, 7500 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas. She also enjoyed attending the Silver sneakers exercise sessions at the San Jacinto YMCA facility at 1716 Jasmine, Pasadena, Texas. Of course she always enjoyed going to restaurants to eat. She never really complained about her declining health but in the later years would try to say that she was sorry that she was so much trouble. Our response was that anyone who called her "sorry" would have to fight us. Then we would explain to her that she had earned all the care she received because when we were wee and little and needed a good mother or grandmother she had filled the bill with good cheer and no complaining and deserved no less for herself. My good cousin Wayne Clanton, her nephew said it best. "Of all the people in our extended family she was the sweetest." We believe this to be true.
Jan and Bethany Phillips BLESSED ARE THE MEEK, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH. BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED THE CHILDREN OF GOD. OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST
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