Barbara Jean Cavender Phillips, 75, of Cross Lanes died on April 12, 2018 in Angleton, Texas, after a long illness. She was born on November 22, 1942 to Ira Wilson Cavender, Jr. and the former Naomi Edith Litton.
Descended from one of the Kanawha Valley’s earliest families, the Cavenders, she was a lifelong resident of the Charleston area except for a brief period as a child. After graduating from Elkview High School and Capital City Commercial College, she worked as a secretary for the Elk Refining Company before marrying her high-school sweetheart, Jerry Phillips, in 1963. With the arrival of her first child, she became a full-time homemaker, a job at which she excelled.
Her fascination with other cultures and outgoing nature prompted her to open her home to several foreign exchange students over the years and arrange host families for many more. She was a voracious reader and lover of the theatre. She was always ready to travel at the drop of a hat, whether in the US (especially to New York City) or abroad, a passion she firmly instilled in her children.
She also particularly enjoyed entertaining friends and family, spoiling them with the fabulous culinary skills she had learned in 4-H and honed over time. She was a longtime member of the First Baptist Church of Tyler Mountain, where she loved the hymns and fellowship.
Her warmhearted sense of generosity extended as well to animals. Over the years, she welcomed into her family many four-legged members, mostly Yorkshire Terriers.
A loving and ever-supportive spouse and mother, she provided her husband and three children with the certainty that they could always count on her, no matter the circumstance. She regularly dispensed sage advice, compassion and a sense of fun.
She leaves behind her husband of 54 years, Jerry; sisters and brother-in-law Beverly Crago of St. Albans and Joyce and Stonie Jones of Charleston; sons and daughters-in-law Christopher and Sherri of Angleton, Texas and Kevin and Karen of Cross Lanes; daughter Andrea, also of Cross Lanes; three grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
Services will be Saturday, April 21st. Viewing will begin at 11 am, followed by funeral service at 1pm, both at the First Baptist Church of Tyler Mountain. Entombment will immediately follow at Tyler Mountain Memory Gardens.
The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the First Baptist Church of Tyler Mountain, PO Box 7724, Charleston, W.Va. 25313.
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