Grover Cleveland Phillips II

Grover Cleveland Phillips, II went to be with the Lord & Savior on September 25, 2008. He was born October 26, 1925 to Grover C. Phillips, I and Fay L. Crumpton Phillips in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Grover left McAlester High to volunteer in the U.S. Navy. He fought in WWII as a radioman on a flight crew on the U.S.S. Gambier Bay when it was sunk in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After the war Grover completed a bachelor's at OSU. He had a long and varied career. He most loved serving communities as Chamber of Commerce Manger first for Pushmataha County, then El Reno, OK, Wichita Falls, TX and Midwest City. In 1978 Grover went to work in the Oklahoma Dept. of Commerce and later went into real estate. Grover was in the Scottish Rite Consistory in McAlester, a 32nd degree KCCH, a member of the India Shrine, performed the lead role on the 32nd Degree Team in McAlester, a member of the Midwest City Masonic Lodge and in the Capitol Hill York Rite Bodies. As a Rotarian, he was a Paul Harris Fellow, served on the Mid-Del Board of Realtors, on the Eastwood Neighborhood Assn., was in the Military Order of the Purple Heart and many more. He was a member of Midwest City First Baptist Church since 1966. Grover will be greatly missed by his loving family and friends all over the state & country. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Walter G. Phillips and his sister Alda F. Payne. Grover is survived by his wife of 60 years, Gerri I. Gipson Phillips, daughters Martha Blackwood and husband Steve of Wagoner, OK and Carla Swarts and husband Alan of MWC and son Grover Cleveland Phillips, III and wife Ellie of Nicoma Park. Grover delighted in his whole family, especially his 7 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to the Cancer Research Foundation. Services will be held at First Baptist Church of Midwest City at 2:00 PM, Monday, 9/29/2008 with burial at Arlington Memory Gardens.