Weldon Bruce Phillips

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: May 3 2022, 16:12:32 UTC

Weldon Bruce Phillips Sr., 82, of Amarillo died Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009.

There will be no services. Burial will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery by Holley Funeral Home of Canyon.

Weldon was born Feb. 18, 1927, in Fort Worth to Charles Walton Phillips and Flora Wheeler Phillips. He lived in Fort Worth until 1938, when the family moved to Houston. They returned to Fort Worth, where he graduated from Paschal High School.

Weldon joined the U.S. Navy in January 1945, entering boot camp in San Diego. Upon completion, he was assigned to sea duty aboard the USS LST 477 as a radar operator in the area of the Marianas Islands. Later, he was transferred to USS LST 798 for assignment between the Philippines and Japan.

Following active duty, he remained in the Naval Reserve until 1952, at which time he enlisted in the Air Section, 49th Armored Division of the Texas National Guard. He later earned his commission as an armored officer attaining the rank of first lieutenant. He remained in the U.S. Army Reserve and was honorably discharged from that service in 1959.

Upon returning to the civilian work force in 1946, he took night courses at Texas Christian University while working as a surveyor with the Texas Highway Engineers for a year before joining the Fort Worth division of General Motors while continuing educational efforts at TCU. In February 1951, he was accepted as a firefighter by the Fort Worth Fire Department where he remained until September 1957. At that time he was employed by the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Fort Worth.

In 1958, he married Judith Woodman in Fort Worth and moved to Canyon in order to concentrate his energies toward his educational goals. He obtained a position with the Amarillo Fire Department in 1959 and first worked as a firefighter, then was assigned to the emergency medical unit, then worked as a fire dispatcher. During that time he completed his degree in psychology at West Texas State University graduating in 1965.

He was a counselor and field work director prior to being appointed to executive director for the Big Brothers organization between 1965 and 1968, before returning to graduate school at West Texas State University. Employment with the Texas Employment Commission followed as a vocational counselor and then as the veterans employment representative, from which he retired.

Mr. Phillips was a member of First Baptist Church in Amarillo. He was a member of the Arlington Heights Masonic Lodge No. 1184 in Fort Worth. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

He was an advocate of the Big Brothers program and, in his early years, was active with the Boy Scouts of America.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Judy; his parents; two brothers; and a grandson.

Survivors include a daughter, Cathey Marlane Coolidge; three sons, Gary of Canyon, Weldon Bruce Jr. and David Lane; two brothers, Jack O. and Robert O., both of Fort Worth; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials be to Susan B. Kohlman Foundation; or Alzheimer's Association, 1400 Wallace Blvd., Amarillo, TX 79106.

Amarillo Globe-News, Jan. 20, 2009* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 3 2022, 16:14:24 UTC