Robert Donald Phillips

Robert Donald Phillips died Tuesday, November 22, 2016, after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer caused by Agent Orange. Robert was born to Donald and Lorraine Hanson Phillips February 28, 1948. He was their third child and only boy among eight children. Bobby, the name stuck with his family his entire life, began school in Pine Bluffs, WY, until 1957 when the family moved to Cheyenne. In 1962 they moved to Pleasanton, CA, where he graduated from Pleasanton High School. While living in California he joined the Sea Scouts which began his love of boats and sailing.

After graduation he joined the Navy for four years. He was exposed to Agent Orange as he was being transported to his ship assignment, USS Hancock. The cargo ship transporting him stopped in Vietnam to off load food supplies. While in the harbor, Bobby saw planes bombing one day and the next day saw cargo like planes dumping some sort of liquid. Shortly after, he was transported to his assignment and never was in Vietnam again.

In 1972 Bobby returned to California and attended college for a short while when he decided he needed a change and moved to Florida to be close to the ocean and boats. There he met and married Chris, the mother of his son, Robert D. Phillips, Jr. He attended college and graduated from the University of Central Florida with a business degree. Shortly after he began a long career with K-Mart as a manager in many locations in Florida, Kentucky, Denver, Las Vegas and ending in St. George, Utah. When he retired, he and Paula, his wife, moved back to Las Vegas. While in Denver, he met and married Paula Kay Brown Williams, in Las Vegas, NV, on February 29, 1996. Paula preceded him in death in February of 2013. He then spent three summers in Alaska driving a bus as a tour guide.

Bobby is survived by his son, Robert (Jodie) D. Phillips, Jr., six sisters: Jolene (Bob) Simkins, Pine Bluffs, WY; Lynelle (Jim) Heidrick, Loveland, CO; Susan (Dan) Seman, Pittsburgh, PA; Kathy (Chuck) Richter, Las Vegas, NV; Lori Luzano (Lou Hartmeister), Fort Collins, CO; Carol (Rocky) Audley, Laguna Niguel, CA; and Amy (John) Cleary, Henderson, NV. He is also survived by his aunt Rita Jeanne Phillips Page of , IL, and uncle Gerald Phillips, of AZ. along with numerous nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews, and cousins from both Hanson and Phillips side of the family and the many friends he met and made throughout his life.

A funeral mass will be held Saturday, December 3, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Pine Bluffs, WY. He will be buried with his wife in the Pine Bluffs Cemetery.