Rubel Phillips

Rubel Lex Phillips

Jackson

Funeral services for Rubel Lex Phillips will be held at 12:00 o'clock, Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011, at Northminster Baptist Church in Jackson, with Reverend Charles Poole conducting the service. Visitation will be held at the church at 3955 Ridgewood Road, from 10:00 until 12:00, prior to the service. A graveside service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, June 23, 2011 at the Shiloh Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Alcorn County.

Rubel Lex Phillips was born March 29, 1925 in Alcorn County to parents William T. Phillips and Ollie Fare Phillips. He graduated from Alcorn Agricultural High School in Kossuth, MS in 1943. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in that year, and completed four years of active service to include wartime duty in the Pacific and with the post-war occupation. He retained a commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and retired with the rank of Commander in 1963.

Mr. Phillips was a graduate of Millsaps College and the University of Mississippi School of Law. After graduation, he was elected to serve as the Circuit Clerk of Alcorn County and Chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission. He was named Outstanding Alumnus of Millsaps College in 1956, and along with Charlie Sullivan and Paul Pittman, he was named one of three Outstanding Young Men of the Year by the Mississippi Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1959.

Mr. Phillips entered private law practice in 1958, and became a partner in the firm of Overstreet, Kuykendall, Perry and Phillips, and later the senior partner in the successor firm of Perry, Phillips, Crockett and Morrison. From 1979 until 1990, he was associated with Mobile Communications Corporation of America (MCCA), later Mobilecomm and a subsidiary of BellSouth, as a consultant and in-house counsel. In 1993 he was accepted as a Graduate Fellow in the Masters of Laws program at Cambridge University's Downing College, in Cambridge, England.

Mr. Phillips was a former member of the Kiwanis Club and the Executive Committee of the Millsaps V-12 Program. He was active in the Mississippi Republican Party since 1956, and was the Republican candidate for Governor of Mississippi in both 1963 and 1967, motivated by the firm belief that the state needed a strong two-party system.

He was one of the five founders of Northminster Baptist Church, where he served as the first Chairman of the Board of Deacons and taught the Men's Sunday School Class. Previously he had been a member of the First Baptist Church of Jackson, where he was a teacher of Senior Boys and a Deacon.

He was an avid supporter and active fundraiser for St. Andrews Episcopal School, Millsaps College, and the Mississippi Republican Party.

He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret James Phillips, and two sons, Rubel Lex Phillips, Jr. and his wife Melinda, of Round Hill, Virginia, and Dr. William James Phillips and his wife Alison, of Jackson, as well as two granddaughters, Caroline Marie ("Cara") Phillips and Margaret Ann ("Megan") Phillips. He is also survived by two brothers William Maurice Phillips and wife Joan of Corinth, Mississippi, and Frank Price Phillips of Memphis, Tennessee.

Honorary pallbearers are members of the Mens' Sunday School Class of Northminster Baptist Church, the other members of the Founding Committee for Northminster Baptist Church, Judge Charles Gaudin, former law partners, and officers of the Millsaps V-12 Executive Committee. Our special thanks are extended to Ms. Elayne Willis, Ms. Dorothy Almon, Mr. Charles Brown, and other friends at the Blake for their constant, loving care-giving and support.

In lieu of flowers the family welcomes donations to Northminster Baptist Church, 3955 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211, or the M.I.N.D. Center, UMC, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS 39216, or the charity of your choice.