Obituaries for May 10, 2010

‘Hap’ Phillips

Harry “Hap” Phillips, 91, of Baker City, died May 4, 2010, at Meadowbrook Place.

Visitations will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. today at Coles Tribute Center, 1950 Place St.

His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Coles Tribute Center. Jack Pittman will officiate. Interment will be at Mount Hope Cemetery. Friends are invited to join the family for a reception at Baker City Christian Church, 675 Highway 7, after the services.

Harry Alton “Hap” Phillips was born on Oct. 10, 1918, at Baker City to James and Maggie Wicks Phillips. He was raised on the Phillips Family Ranch in the upper Wingville area, which his father purchased in 1906.

He was a 1937 Haines High School graduate. After high school, it was expected that he would assist his father with the ranch operations.

Harry married Ethelda Sears on July 3, 1940. They had four children: Helen, Joyce, Allen and George. When his parents turned the ranch operation over to him in 1942 and moved to Haines, he moved back into the family ranch house where he had resided since.

He spent his entire life working and improving the ranch property. As a youth, he and his father used eight work horses for ranch operations before purchasing their first tractor in the early ’40s.

Hap was a longtime member of the Wingville Grange and served as master several times.

Family members expressed their sincere thanks to the many wonderful neighbors who assisted their dad in his later years.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Ethelda, who died in 2004; his parents; and his three older sisters: Grace Kirkland, Stella Tobias and Opal White.

Survivors include his four children and their spouses, Helen and Marvin Hopkins, Joyce and Woody Williams, Allen and Marge Phillips and George and Hope Phillips; 10 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of one’s choice through Coles Tribute Center, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR  97814.