PHILLIPS: The death of Gilbert Edward "Gib" Phillips, beloved husband of Ruth, dear father, grandfather and great grandfather, occurred at the Brandon Regional Health Centre on Tuesday, August 29, 2006. The Funeral Ceremony for family and friends will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 107 Queens Avenue East, on Saturday, September 2, 2006 at 1:30 pm. Bishop Lyall Smith and Mr. Bruce Palmer will officiate. Interment will follow at the Rapid City Cemetery. Complete obituary information will follow. Friends who wish may make a donation in memory of Gilbert to the Canadian Cancer Society, 193 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg, Mb R3C 2B7 or to a charity of choice. Expressions of Sympathy may be made at www.memorieschapel.com. Arrangements are with Memories Chapel & Pre-Planning Centre, 727-0330.


PHILLIPS: The death of Gilbert Edward "Gib" Phillips, beloved husband of Ruth, dear father, grandfather, and great grandfather, occurred at the Brandon Regional Health Centre on Tuesday, August 29, 2006. Gilbert Phillips was born on August 17, 1921 on the family farm in Elton Municipality north of Forrest, the youngest of six children born to John and Laura Phillips. As a child, he attended Mount Vernon School for seven years and then helped on the family farm. There was always plenty of work to do but he found time for the regular boy thing of catching gophers or shooting crows. He developed a love for hunting and in his earlier years in the fall he could be found out hunting ducks, prairie chickens or with neighborhood friends hunting deer. Gib was always interested in mechanics. In fact he overhauled his dad's tractor when he was just fourteen. He was doing a man's work at an early age. At the beginning of World War II, brother John went into the army and Gib was left to run the farm, as his father was quite elderly. As a young man he played hockey and softball on the local teams. He always maintained an interest in sports and was an avid Wheat Kings fan. For a number of years he had season tickets. It was a good night out but he still had to hire someone to mind the shop while he and Ruth were away. He once won the program draw and received a wristwatch with the Wheat Kings crest on the face of it. It was a prized possession, which he wore for years. Gib enjoyed community activities and dancing. It was at such activities that he met Ruth Durston of Cardale. The two of them became acquainted when they attended Red Cross dances. Then the day arrived, in April of 1944, when Gib mustered up the courage to ask Ruth out on a date. Gib was delivering eggs from his parent's farm to the Canada Packers Creamery in Rapid City where Ruth worked. I guess that first date must have gone fairly well, because by May they were engaged, and the wedding was planned for November 15th of that year. Gib and Ruth were married at the Anglican Church manse in Minnedosa by Rev. David Conly. They farmed his parent's farm for six years. Part of this time they lived with Gib's parents until they were able to get their own house on the farm north of Forrest. In 1952, they made a move to Brandon. In addition to working with his Dad on the farm, Gib spent 4 years at Reliance Motors, the Chrysler Dealership in Brandon and a year with International Harvester Truck Centre, learning mechanics. With that knowledge under his belt, they purchased the Massey-Harris Shell Oil business in Rapid City in 1955, and made the move to that town which was to become their home. So began Gib's Service! They spent the next 32 years selling machinery and serving the automotive and farm repair needs to the surrounding community. Gib did the hands on work, and Ruth took care of all the bookwork. Together they made a good team! Among other qualities: their hard work, cheerfulness, and honesty won them the respect of all their customers. They were business owners who were in business for more than the money, they were indeed committed to the people they served. This commitment won the enduring term of Maw and Pa Phillips. Gib had an easygoing personality, which meant he got along with young and old alike. He had a sharp eye for business too. He knew if he took the time to put air in the kid's bicycle tires they would still be coming to him when they got their first car. It always worked. One year he said that there would be a free tank of gas for every young man on the day of his wedding. The church was only a couple of blocks from his shop. One young fellow had the gas so low that he ran out of gas before he got to Gib's pumps. Ruth said they always had a chuckle every time they remembered that wedding party pushing the car the last few yards to the pumps. He got his free gas but paid for it in ribbing for a long time after. Gib's motto was "24 hour towing", and he stuck by it. He went out no matter the weather, at any hour of the day including the weekends and holidays to rescue someone in distress. Ruth remembers one particular nasty night when it was wet, cold, and icy. He had several calls. He would just nicely get into bed and then the phone would ring and away he would go. An hour or so later he would come back tired and cold, crawl into bed only to have the phone ring again. That happened most of the night. When morning finally came and barely any sleep, he was out of bed and at the shop by 8:30. No one knew of his lack of sleep and he did not complain. Now not only did he go out to tow vehicles but he also made calls to farmers out in their fields. One day two of his customers came in to obtain his help. They were in the middle of harvesting and the combine had broken down. Neither of them was particularly adept in mechanics so they desperately needed Gib's help. Well, Gib went out to the field with them to have a look at the combine. Now one of the fellows followed Gib around poking his head in where Gib was looking and was always in the way. It got on Gib's nerves but he was patient, kept his cool and did not tell him to keep out of his way. Instead he went and got his gooseneck and pretended to poke and pry on the opposite side of the combine from where the problem was. He found a good spot and told the fellow that he really needed him to push down on this gooseneck so it would hold up this piece inside the combine and that would allow him to fix the combine. The man willingly obliged, figuring that he was being very useful and Gib went smiling around to the other side of the combine to fix the problem, uninterrupted. Gib's Service was a good place to hang out and visit. One year they bought a new coin operated drink machine. Customers visiting around in the shop got to matching for drinks, by flipping a coin. Gib went to the bank and purchased a silver dollar to match with. He always seemed to be lucky with his silver dollar and one day there was a group of farmers standing around shooting the breeze and matching for drinks. Gib got into it with his silver dollar and soon had a free drink. Well Roy Denton said, "Let me see that thing." He went to the door and threw it out into the street. So here was poor Gib searching up and down the edge of the road for his silver dollar. He finally found it again but took better care of it after that. With so much use and carrying it around in his pocket it would not take long to get it worn down, so he would take it to the bank and exchange it for a new one. This went on for several years and one day the banker said, "We can't keep taking in these old dollars. We have to have 100 of them before we can turn them in for new money." So he brought it home and scratched a big H for heads on one side and he was back in business again. When he retired, he continued to carry that old thing in his pocket until a week or so ago. Now his daughter wants the old coin and I am sure that the same old pranks will continue. There is one story that epitomizes Gib's commitment to the community. One evening Gib was ready to close up the shop. It was well past closing time, but he had a nagging feeling that he needed to stay open a little longer. He walked outside and looked up and down the street-no one in sight. He went back inside, but still felt he needed to wait around a little longer. A few minutes passed and a car pulled up to the pumps. They were so grateful that he was there, as their gas gauge was on empty, and they needed to get a sick child to the hospital for medical attention. Gib's Service to the rescue yet again! Their business was aptly named, for Gib and Ruth did indeed spend many years in "Service" to their community. Gib and Ruth retired in 1986 and continued to live in the house that they built behind the shop next to the river. He did not just sit around, he found things to fix and repair. He took over much yard work and looked after the big garden and flowerbeds. He enjoyed the results of his labour and found particular delight in being the first one to have radishes in the Spring and enjoyed sharing the extra produce with his friends. With all of the grass to mow, he remained a true Massey man and never had one of those John Deere mowers in his yard. He joined the local bowling leagues, both the regulars and the seniors. He had his name in the papers more than once for his bowling accomplishments. Both Gib and Ruth enjoyed traveling. They have been to Mexico, England, and many locations in Canada and the U.S. They liked to be self-sufficient when they traveled and their van has taken them on many adventures. Throughout the years Gib has been very involved in the local community. Whatever he did, he did with a great sense of commitment and dedication. Gib served on the school board, town council and as fire chief. He was a member of the Rapid City Volunteer Firefights for 32 years. In 1990, he received the Governor General of Canada Volunteer Fire Fighters Service Award and Medal. He and Ruth were both founding members of the Rapid City Stock Car Club and together with Patty, spent many hours working at that project. At church, he served wherever he was asked and was an extraordinaire example of a home teacher. He and Ruth drove all over the countryside to encourage and visit with members of the church. He will be greatly missed at church. On Sunday mornings he was the first to greet you at the door with a handshake, a warm smile and the program for the church service. In Rapid City they raised their family of four. They were all girls - which left Gib very outnumbered, and I suspect a little pampered, although he would never admit to anything like that. He would have you think he was very hard done by! Their daughter Bernice married Keith Finlay. They live on the farm north of Rapid City. Their children are Doug and partner Joanne and Sandra and husband Bart. Shirley married Harold Slator and they live in Brandon. Their children are Cameron and partner Lisa, Jason and wife Kim and Tammy and her partner Kris. Patty lives in Winnipeg and her companion Greg passed away in 1985. Linda married David Ewald, they also live in Winnipeg with their two boys Johnathon and Joshua. They have been blessed with eight great-grandchildren: Garret, Quinn, Melanie, Kelsey, Donald, Jessica, Kaitlyn and Riley. He is also survived by; his sister Rena Cornish and brothers Robert and John (Margaret). Gib was predeceased by; his parents, sisters Mabel Lang and Pearl Shelvey. We were blessed to have had Gib with us for so many years. The Funeral Ceremony for family and friends was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Saturday, September 2, 2006 at 1:30 pm. Bishop Lyall Smith and Mr. Bruce Palmer officiated. Pallbearers were: Philip Shelvey, Morley Cornish, Gregg Phillips, Arnold Phillips, Doug Smith and Bill Craig. Interment followed at the Rapid City Cemetery. Friends who wish may make a donation in memory of Gilbert to the Canadian Cancer Society, 193 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 2B7 or to a charity of choice. Expressions of Sympathy may be made at www.memorieschapel.com. Arrangements were with Memories Chapel & Pre-Planning Centre, 727-0330. Memorials
Canadian Cancer Society, or Charity of Choice