(1) Death of Mrs. A.R. Phillips.
The News of the death of Mrs. A.R. Phillips, which occurred at Madison, Wisconsin, Saturday, 4th inst., was heard with deep regret in this city.
Mrs. Phillips came to Milledgeville several years ago to take charge of the Dressmaking Department of the Georgia Normal and Industrial College.
She made many friends here, who were drawn to her by her amiable disposition and affable manner, and when it was learned over a year ago that she was in ill health, sorrow was felt in the hearts of all who knew her.
A year ago she left this city, and went to Wisconsin to make her home with her son, Prof. Ulric Phillips, where she died Saturday. Her remains were brought to LaGrange for burial. Mr. Phillips left Milledgeville Monday for that city.
Rev. Joel Daves assisted in conducting the funeral services.
In another column we publish a tribute to Mrs. Phillips from the pen of Miss Julia Frisch.
Source: Union Recorder, Milledgeville, Georgia, August 14, 1906; Pg. 5
(2) In Memoriam - Mrs. Jessie Young Phillips.
Heroic souls are not common in our everyday experience, and it seems to me, therefore, that the record of one such should not be suffered to pass without notice. There are many friends, in Milledgeville, who knew Mrs. Phillips as I knew her first - a charming woman, graceful and accomplished, a generous neighbor and friend, an active worker in social and benevolent lines, - but of all her friends, I am the only one who was permitted to watch her battle with disease and suffering, and to witness the marvelous victory of the spirit over the purely material.
Mrs. Phillips was one of those rare rich natures who drink of life in its fullness. She loved life, and she lived it to the end. Yet she faced death, day by day, for eighteen months, without fear or gloom. She had a smile for the chance visitor when her lips were blanched with pain, and I have seen her on her couch, the center of an animated group, not one of whom guessed that even while she entered into their pleasure, her hands were clinched in agony.
I saw her daily and often more than once a day, and I never saw her fretful or ill-tempered, never knew her to be self-centered or exacting. Her fingers were busy until they grew too weak to hold needle or pen, and to the very end she was interested in the peace and happiness of others. Strangers who called upon her, at first out of courtesy, -came again, being drawn by the magnetism of her sweetness, her brightness and her courage, and the flowers that made her chamber a very bower, were but the expression of the thought that impressed us all, how the beauty of her life was blossoming even in the valley of shadows.
God was merciful to her, and as the end drew near her suffering lessened, until at last His finger touched her, and she slept.
There are too many who will be too glad to read this simple record of her life; to those of us who knew her best, that life will remain a beautiful memory and inspiration.
-Julia A. Frisch
Augusta, Ga., Aug. 9, 1906
Source: Union Recorder, Milledgeville, Georgia, August 14, 1906; Pg. 3
