[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 117 (Wednesday, September 27, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H8284]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN HONOR OF MURRY ORMAND PHILLIPS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, Harnett County and the town of Coats lost 
one of its most indefatigable education, civic, and business leaders 
with the death on May 16, 2000, of Murry Ormand Phillips. His lifetime 
resume of accomplishments could well do credit to 10 men.
  Born in 1913 in a Mississippi county that the U.S. Department of 
Commerce ranked the poorest in the entire United States, Mr. Phillips 
turned to education as a way out, eventually gaining entrance to 
Mississippi State University, where he graduated with a degree in 
vocational agriculture and a commission as a 2d Lieutenant in the Army 
Reserve. His graduation came in the midst of the Great Depression when 
jobs were almost nonexistent. The university placement center offered 
one opportunity--a teaching job in far off Coats, NC. Mr. Phillips set 
off for North Carolina and a lifelong love affair with his adopted 
state.
  The teaching job in Coats turned out to be teaching vocational 
agriculture at Coats High School in the mornings and vocational 
agriculture in Angier in the afternoons. Mr. Phillips proved very 
popular with his students, so much so that one student introduced the 
teacher to a sister, Kathryn Stewart Smith. The two young people were 
married a year later. The marriage was to produce a daughter and a son. 
Mrs. Phillips died in 1998.
  Mr. Phillips' career was interrupted by World War II. He entered 
active duty on February 14, 1942, barely 2 months after Pearl Harbor. 
He was to serve under Gen. George S. Patton and Gen. Mark Clark and see 
action in North Africa and Italy. He participated in the landing of 
Allied forces on Anzio Beach.
  His military record was a distinguished one. Mr. Phillips was a 
liaison officer, company commander, and a headquarters executive 
officer, among other assignments. He received the Bronze Star, the 
Purple Heart, the American and Silver Star, European Service medals, 
the Legion of Merit Award, a Presidential Unit Citation, six campaign 
stars and two commendations for meritorious service, one from the Army 
and one from the Navy. One citation for battlefield merit detailed how 
Mr. Phillips ``disregarded his personal welfare and safety by 
carrying'' a message ``through artillery fire in an exposed one-fourth 
ton truck.'' He also received an Army commendation for his teaching 
methods in training tank commanders. After the war, Mr. Phillips came 
home to Coats. He remained a member of the Army Reserve, eventually 
retiring as a Major.
  But it was to be in his chosen profession, education, that Mr. 
Phillips would make his greater contribution. Almost immediately upon 
his return to Coats, he began a night carpentry class for veterans. 
More than 1,500 veterans were to pass through that carpentry class. He 
and his agricultural students constructed a new agricultural building 
and later built and operated a cannery on the school grounds for use by 
the community every summer.
  Mr. Phillips' educational career had many highlights. He taught 
vocational agriculture in Harnett County for more than 28 years, worked 
for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for more than 
10 years as a curriculum specialist and supervisor for curriculum 
development, and designed the course of study for several divisions in 
vocational education. He wrote, photographed, and developed a fourth 
grade curriculum for the study of North Carolina that included a resume 
of six sound color filmstrips with a teacher's text and guide to 
utilization. He worked closely with NC State University, an institution 
from which he received the Master's Degree in 1958, over a period of 25 
years and supervised some 100 student teachers during that period.
  He received many honors for his activities. He received the Honorary 
American Farmer Degree in 1958, the highest honor that a vocational 
agriculture instructor can receive. He won the Teacher of Teachers 
Silver Award in 1968 from the National Vocational Agricultural Teachers 
Association. Former students established an ``M.O. Phillips 
Scholarship'' in 1966, and a day was set aside in Coats as M.O. 
Phillips Day with a large celebration and life story at the Coats 
school. This scholarship is given each year to an outstanding student 
who has been accepted to attend a four-year college or university. 
North Carolina State University award him its ``Outstanding Alumni 
Award'' posthumously in 1999-2000.
  Mr. Phillips was active in all agriculture associations as well as 
the North Carolina Association of Educators and the National Education 
Association. One of his enduring gratifications was that he was a 
member of the Future Farmers of America nominating committee that 
nominated Jim Hunt for FFA president. Hunt won, then later went on to 
serve as North Carolina Governor for 16 years.
  Under Mr. Phillips' leadership, the Coats FFA chapter won more honors 
than any other chapter in North Carolina. The chapter received the 
``Gold Service Award'' twice, the highest award given by the national 
organization. A total of 23 Future Farmers received the ``American 
Farmer Degree,'' under Mr. Phillips' leadership.
  Mr. Phillips was executive secretary of Meredith Publishing Company's 
Successful Farmers Teaching Aids for 13 years. As executive secretary, 
he recommended to the publisher what aides were to be published monthly 
and from those recommendations would prepare the monthly teaching aid 
kits which Successful Farming mailed to some 5,000 vocational education 
teachers each month. A lover of roses, he was the publication's rose 
editor for 13 years.
  In 1994, Governor Hunt gave Mr. Phillips the ``Governor's Volunteer 
Award'' for his activities. Those activities included service to the 
American Legion, the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Coats 
Development Group, and the Coats Senior Citizens Center, as well as 
numerous other civic endeavors. Mr. Phillips was founding member of the 
Coats Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He was named ``Coats Man 
of the Year'' in 1983 and was a grand marshal of the Coats 85th Farmers 
Day Parade in 1997. He was also a charter member of the Coats Lions 
Club and the Coats Senior Citizens Center.
  A member of Coats Baptist Church for 64 years, Mr. Phillips taught 
Sunday school for 45 years and was Sunday school superintendent for 26 
years. He was a deacon for 40 years and chairman of the Baptist Men for 
11 years. He served as a tour escort for a tour group formed at the 
church and made some 30 trips with the group. He was a popular speaker 
in both Methodist and Baptist churches in North Carolina and in his 
home state of Mississippi.
  Mr. Phillips survivors include one daughter and son-in-law, Carolyn 
S. and Ben Spears of Greensboro; one son and daughter-in-law, Murry T. 
and Dora Phillips of Dunn; one sister, Evelyn Collier, five 
grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
  If an individual's role is to leave the world a better place than he 
found it, Murry Ormand Phillips did an inestimable job. When his 
country was threatened, he rallied to the colors. When courage was 
called for, he responded. When his community needed vision, he supplied 
it. When students needed inspiration, he offered it. When children 
needed an adult model from whom they could learn, he was always 
available.
  Coats and North Carolina have lost an outstanding citizen. But we can 
thank a Kind Providence that placed us on the same highway of life as 
this good man.

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