Pa's Funeral

Song

I want to thank everyone for being here today…

I’m Brian Wirges, I’m one of Bradley’s grandsons. I called him Pa, I’ll try to remember to refer to him as Bradley, but when I say Pa that’s who I’m referring to!

Obituary

March 26 1927 February 1 2021 Harris Bradley Phillips,Born March 26, 1927 in Theo, MS. Bradley passed from this life on Monday, February 1, 2021 at Baptist Memorial Hospital – Desoto. Bradley was of the Baptist faith and the retired owner of H. B. Phillips, INC. He loved to golf and to watch college basketball. Bradley is survived by his son, Larry Phillips and wife Mary of Germantown, TN; daughter, Cathy Coats and husband James of Marion, Arkansas; 3 grandchildren, Beth Jones and husband Tommy, Brad Phillips and wife Kristin and Brian Wirges and wife Kristen; 8 great grandchildren, Brady Jones, Will Jones, Judd Phillips, Harris Phillips, Charles Phillips, Parker Wirges, Hudson Wirges and Dawson Wirges; nephew Billy Ray Phillips and wife Linda, and several nieces, nephews, other relatives and a host of friends. He is preceded in death by his wife of 73 years, Joyce Phillips; father, James Neal Phillips; mother, Ethel Mathis Phillips and a brother, James Edward Phillips. Pallbearers will be Brad Phillips, Billy Phillips, James Coats, Randy Avant, Barry Avant and David Butler. Magnolia Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Mr. Harris Bradley Phillips. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Bradley Phillips please visit our Sympathy Store.

One thing La loved to do was sing... Friday after he had his heart attack and was starting to feel better, Linda wanted to check him out to see how he was feeling, so she told him to sing his favorite song, seven Spanish angels.

Service

Pa stuff

He was the son of a farmer and housewife.

He served our country in the U.S. Army at the time of World War II.

He married Joyce Brewer on December 23, 1947.

You know she told him that she would go before him. I guess he wanted to make sure to give her this last one.

He was a truck driver and in 1960, he acquired his first Highway Mail Contract with the Postal Service. As time went on, he acquired several more contracts with the postal service.

Between about 1961 and 1968, he had a side job trucking in watermelons to Memphis and selling them to A & P grocery stores.

He eventually founded H.B. Phillips, Inc., the company still hauling US mail today.

He understood the industry well. My dad's mother told me a story the other day. When I was a little boy Pa had me sitting on his lap and told me that the trucks would soon all have computers…

It was around 1964 or so that he picked up a habit that became a lifelong love and it was golf. It’s been said he could sink a putt from 20 yards off the green if there was enough money on the line. He thoroughly enjoyed the sport and made numerous friends along the way. He was given a nickname early on that was very befitting for him and that nickname was Melon. A group of golfer friends went out to dinner and they ordered basically everything on the menu. And passed the plates around to share. He would always get the melon garnish and thus the nickname Melon.

He was a lifelong basketball lover. He played himself and he loved watching the Memphis Tigers play games. He would watch any college game on TV. He was a big fan of the sport.

When I was in school at Alabama we were good at basketball instead of football and I’d always be sure to ask him how our team was looking. He would always give me an honest assessment and it usually turned out to be pretty accurate.

He loved watching the game even if he wasn’t always totally sure what he was watching. One time several years ago he was telling his other grandson Brad about watching Duke make a ten point come back in the final minute of a game to win. Brad said, “I think that was a replay, that happened a few years ago.” Pa said, “no I just watched it the other night!”

He was a giver. He helped out other people without expecting anything in return or even expecting to get repaid from a loan. He bought many steak dinners.

He was still living in his condo in Destin when I was in college and he would let me and my friends come down and stay with him for spring break. Our spring break usually fell on his birthday so we would take him out to dinner. Even though it was his birthday, he would usually pay!

My buddies loved that too because he was so much fun. He’d definitely sing at some point, and he’d cut up and joke. He was known as Hong Bong amongst my friends (that’s a long story). When I told some of those guys Monday, one of them said he’d always be remembered as a legend.

He was an honest man. And you always knew where you stood with Bradley Phillips!

He was very well respected by all that he met.

He was loved and cherished by family and friends and he loved all of his family very much.

The following words and phrases have been used to describe him.

Kind man

Great man

Good friend

Gracious

A pistol

Special

Down to earth

Good man

A joy to be around

Message

When you lose someone like that it hurts. Our friends and family are gifts from God to us. They bring us joy and remind us of his grace. Bradley reminded us of God’s joy and his kindness. He was a gift to us. The good memories we have with him are each a gift that we can treasure. While there is a time to mourn and it’s important to do so, I think it is also important for us to not linger too long in the pain of loss but to move into the joy we have from those memories and celebrate the life of our loved ones.

But even though we know it is better to dwell in the joy, we will still feel the loss. But because of Christ’s Gospel, even in pain and loss we have hope. We have hope of joy, of life, of newness. We have hope that through the profession of faith in Jesus that Pa made several years ago that he has been saved by God’s grace and is with Him today. We have the hope of a day when sickness and pain and death will go away.

I’m the student minister at my church. Last night I taught our students from the book of Mark. One of the study tools I used pointed out something about Jesus’ miracles that I had never thought about before. His miracles all pointed towards the undoing of the curse of sin on the world. Disease, pain, sadness, death; these are all a part of the curse that sin brought into our world. And look at Jesus’ miracles:

Jesus healed the sick and disabled, pointing us to the day when these things will be no more

He fed thousands on a few pieces of bread and fish, pointing us to the day when want will be no more

He stopped a storm, pointing us to the day when natural disasters will be no more

He brought the dead back to life, pointing us to the day when death will be no more

In times of sadness, we turn to the hope of when the things that make us sad will be no more because of the work that Jesus did in his life, death, and resurrection. This is the promise for his people.

Romans 10:13 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The promise for those who have called on his name, the promise of peace and comfort in Jesus no matter our situation or circumstance. No matter what hurt or loss we go through. There is hope at the end of it in Jesus for a better Kingdom, an eternal Kingdom.

Jesus gave John a glimpse of that Kingdom…

Revelation 21:1–7 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

And so even though we are sad and we mourn today, we have the joy of the memories we have with Bradley Phillips and the hope provided in Jesus Christ that there is coming a day for his people when mourning and death will be no more.

pray