Paula Phipps White

This is gonna be unconventional, hope you don’t mind. Written by her kids, in their late 50s, not AI, which will be obvious as you read this. Let’s face it, there is no way to cover all the people, experiences and stories that matter in the life of an 80-year-old. Bottom line, if you knew her, you knew!

Helen (she hated that & never used it) Paula Phipps was born March 22, 1945 to Paul Browning Phipps and Helen Shaw Phipps of McLeansville, NC, most likely infringing upon her 9-year-old sister Joanne who she found beautiful and kind.

She passed away on September 5, 2025 and is survived by her daughter Dana, son Jason, daughter-in-law Paige and granddaughters Elizabeth Browning White and Alexandra Anne White.

Just a few of the facts about Paula, Mom (never ma’am), P-dubs, Gma

· voted “Most Dependable” in high school

· started a personnel placement business in 1971 called DataMasters which specialized in what was then called Data Processing (think mainframes), now Information Technology, still operating today…we could go on & on about this, but we won’t

· got pulled over while rushing to the grocery store before it closed to get milk for the kids & told the officer he’d have to wait, so he did

· got pulled over while lost trying to find a movie theater in Myrtle Beach to pick up the kids so, naturally, the officer escorted her there

· if we got separated from her in a store, we just waited until we heard her laugh

· backed a Buick onto the top of her husband’s 1969 corvette stingray

· drove a Jaguar in a flash flood - totaled

· had another Buick that was “hit & run” in an empty parking lot - also totaled

· never got a ticket

· so long as there were checks in her checkbook, she had money &, if she got overdrawn, she’d just open a new account

· did not do taxes, insurance or windows

· was allergic to humidity

· was not a natural blonde

· when her first mobile phone rang, she asked the caller how they knew where she was

· loved music, art, architecture, old things, fine clothing and red lipstick

· always said it doesn’t matter how you play, it’s how you look

· threw the best parties

· had the best friends, some lifelong, and neighbors

· preferred sitting at the kids’ table at holidays, fitting right in

· had genuine curiosity and interest in those she loved, sometimes strangers, too

· was immensely proud of her family

· taught us that relationships matter, they are the true currency

· would have agreed with the EMS guy who’d become familiar with her and said “she may be gone, but she had fun!”

A sincere thank you to all the people who’ve served her unsweetened ice tea with extra lemon, artificial sweetener & a straw, the 3.5 doctors she liked and Zee.