Angelina College Pays Tribute to Dr. Larry Phillips

On Sunday, February 23, a memorial service for Dr. Larry Phillips was held at Shands Gymnasium on the campus of Angelina College. Phillips was president when the construction of the gym began.

Dr. Phillips passed away earlier this year on January 27.. Phillips, just the second president in Angelina College’s 56-year history, served in the role from 1991 until his retirement in 2015.

With a crowd of family, friends, former employees and student-athletes filling the seats, guest speakers paid tribute to Phillips’ life and legacy. Current AC president Dr. Michael Simon, who succeeded Phillips, spoke of Phillips’ love of the college – “He seemed to know every tree and landmark on this entire campus” – and its people, along with Phillips’ vision for reaching students wherever he could locate them.

Dr. Patricia McKenzie worked alongside Phillips for the entirety of his tenure, and she told the crowd of his work in expanding the AC reach throughout its 13-county service area. McKenzie shared the tale of having Phillips return from a meeting or conference somewhere only to have everyone involved in his next meeting break out the “yellow legal pads.”

“He’d come up with so many new ideas, and he wanted to make sure we wrote all of them down,” McKenzie said. “And he always wanted those old-school yellow legal pads.”

The final speaker for Sunday’s memorial was Phillips’ younger brother Gene, who shared childhood tales while highlighting Larry’s leadership – “He always took charge of whatever we were doing, and he made sure we were taken care of while we did it” – along with Larry’s incredible intelligence gleaned through voracious reading habits. Gene also mentioned a few of his brother’s “invented golf shots.”

Gene added, “I have no doubt that when Larry entered the gates of Heaven, the Lord Jesus himself greeted him and told him, 'I knew you’d show up.’”

Gene Phillips shares stories of his late brother Larry during Sunday’s memorial service. Angelina College held the tribute inside Shands Gymnasium to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Larry Phillips, who served as the college’s second president from 1991 until 2015. (Gary Stallard photo for AC News Service)