Daniel Raymond Phillips
“Dan”
“Dan, Babe, Honey Bunny, Dad, Papa”
How do you sum up a life of 71 years lived?
It is not easy because there are so many wonderful memories, but I am going to try.
Dan was a man who deeply loved God and his family and friends. He loved his wife Carol of 31 years, his only son Adam Phillips, stepdaughter Terrie Gowdy Batson and his wonderful grandchildren Carson Phillips, Mariah Gowdy Phillips and Jaden Batson and all his wonderful family and friends.
Dan loved to spend quality time with his son Adam whether it was to go hunting in South Dakota waiting for the big buck or at the end of the day enjoying a big steak, talking. Dan was so proud of the man he had become. And when I say steak… Dan loved his steak… I mean really, he loved steak like all the time… like Monday through Friday.
He also loved his stepdaughter Terrie and was so proud of her. And always loved to help his children in any way he could. One time when Terrie was 13 trying to learn to first swallow a pill she said “I can’t do it!” Then Dan told her he would pay her $20.00 if she would swallow it in the next 3 minutes. Her eyes got real big and she said “Ok, but give me 5 minutes.” Dan said “No you only have 3 minutes total and that is about to expire.” Terrie looked at that $20.00 and Dan said you better hurry time is running out. Her eyes got even bigger and she took that pill and swallowed it in record time.
Dan was quite the jokester too. One time when he was at work with a co-worker in their office he had some green slime in his hand and was sitting in front of his friend’s desk and then he put his hand up to his nose and pretended to sneeze and opened his hand and the green slime oozed all the way down on the desk which looked like he sneezed on his friend’s desk and his friend screamed and jumped back in his chair and screamed “Oh my gosh, what in the world?” Dan said he laughed so hard it hurt… we still laugh at that story today.
Dan loved seeing his Dad Ray and Nana and sisters Linda, Karen, Melva and brother-in-law Steve. They all enjoyed seeing each other while in South Dakota and would catch up on stories and eat and laugh.
He also enjoyed visiting with his sister Donna via cell phone since she lives in Alaska and hearing all her stories about the moose and wildlife that would come in her front yard.
He loved spending holidays with her sister Charlotte and seeing all his nieces and nephews, pigging out and eating cake… Dan had a sweet tooth even though he said he didn’t like sweets.
At home he would take a cookie and pick off a piece and put the cookie back because after all… he “didn’t like sweets”. We would ask him, did you eat part of this cookie and he would say no I don’t like sweets… he was always doing and saying that and we would laugh because we knew he did it.
Dan loved going to the lake on the boat with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jeff and Debra and all his nieces and nephews, spending the day on the water. Dan loved to be on the water whether in a boat or at the beach.
He loved when the whole family would get together every Thanksgiving and Dan would always bring the ham. He loved cooking the ham, and everyone would say it wasn’t Thanksgiving until Dan cut the ham.
In fact Dan loved cooking, especially meat dishes. He was always looking up new recipes to try and was a really good cook. And it was a good thing too because I could not cook. We ate a lot of spaghetti before I met Dan.
Dan loved planting, gardening and going to his “man mall” home depot.
He also loved his 3 grandchildren very much.
He loved going to Carson’s games and matches to cheer him on whether it was baseball, football or wrestling. Carson would watch for his Papa and smile so proud of himself when he won and so was Dan. And when Carson grew older, Dan would love teaching him about investing since he came from finance background. And when Carson finished his degree at OSU Papa was smiling again of the news, so proud of him.
He loved to play dress up with Mariah and she would put a Hannah Montana wig on him and would take pictures and we would all laugh…..still have that picture on my dresser. Mariah would love to play with her Papa in the pool and would get on his back like he was a dolphin and they would hold their breath together and go under water at the same time over and over again. Both were like fishes. And as Mariah grew older he was so taken back with her beautiful voice as we watched her solo performance in vocals. Papa was so moved and so proud.
Dan loved to play catch football in the backyard with Jaden. And at Easter loved watching Jaden run to grab his eggs to show Papa his collection, always made him smile and proud.
And last but not least he loved the family fur baby Snowdrop. She always loved Papa so very much and every night Dan would say “Are you ready to watch the news?” And then Snowdrop would run and jump up in the recliner with him and lay her head on his arm.
Dan was very dedicated to his family and worked very hard so they could go on many vacations to enjoy, always wanting to spend time with each other and relax. He also always enjoyed giving them advice to help them pursue their dreams and meet their goals.
Dan also had a compassionate heart and was always there to help his friends whether they needed financial help, or encouragement or to just listen.
So when I think of Dan, my husband, my “Honey Bunny” I see the love of my life, my soul mate, my best friend. I see a man who gave love unconditionally, who always had a loving heart for his family and his friends. He gave love, he received love.
As his wife I could have not taken this journey with Dan and would not have had to be here today to see my heart broke in half along with everyone in the family and friends but then we would have missed a great love of family and friends.
And for me, his wife, I would have missed out on the best 31 years of my life. I love you Babe forever and a day.
So when we look up to Heaven today we say Dan, Babe, Dad and Papa we all love you so very much. So now you go enjoy all the glory, enjoy walking and breathing easy, keep planting your garden and enjoy your many friends and family as we have enjoyed you.
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