Margaret Elizabeth Phillips

Margaret Elizabeth Phillips, age 101, a lifelong resident of Matthews, and daughter of the late O. L. Phillips (Pete), who served many years as Matthews Postmaster, and Beulah Paxton Phillips (Miss Beu). Born October 1, 1914, in Matthews, she graduated from Matthews High School in 1931, received a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina (now UNC at Greensboro) in 1935, and a Master’s Degree in Education from Columbia University (Teachers College) in New York City in 1954.

During her forty-one years in the Mecklenburg County School System, she began as a third grade teacher, seven years at Hickory Grove Elementary School and twelve years at Matthews Elementary School. During her tenure as teacher, she taught summer classes of various crafts at the Penland School of Crafts in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, for seventeen years – being especially gifted with basket weaving. In 1954, prior to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school merger, she became Supervisor of Mecklenburg Elementary teachers, and after the merger became Assistant Personnel Director until her retirement in 1976. She was a member of the Retired Teachers Association, and a charter member of Alpha Data Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International Society.

Margaret is a descendant of the Phillips and Paxton lineages, who for more than a hundred and fifty years have resided in the local Matthews area. Phillips Road that intersects with Matthews-Mint Hill Road is named in honor of her paternal grandparents, the late John Wesley and Elizabeth Jane Funderburk Phillips. Her maternal grandparents, William Sanford and Margaret Ann McLeod Paxton were longtime residents of the Pleasant Plains Community in Mecklenburg County and were among the first members of the historic Pleasant Plains Baptist Church where Mr. Paxton became the first Sunday School Superintendent and served in that capacity for twenty-eight years.

As a life time member of the First Baptist Church in Matthews, Margaret was involved in many of the church activities; she was a member of the Dorcas Sunday School Class, the General officer of the Sunday School, a Sunday School Teacher, the church historian for a period of time, the director of all Sunday School study materials, and an active participant in other committees and functions. In like manner, she was also an active participant in the Matthews Woman’s Club, holding several different positions in the organization, and in the Matthew Book club, the Happy Times club, and the Matthews Historical Foundation.

Along with her sister, Mary Louise, her only sibling, who predeceased her in 2013, she was a great assistant with their time-honored vegetable gardening and the tending of their vast assortment of flowers that ringed the garden and filled the yard. Each year the garden’s yield was always lovingly shared with friends and neighbors, and for the guest who visited during the holidays there was always a parting gift of jam, jelly, or pickles – especially the Crystal pickles that were prepared with intricate preparation in the Phillips’s’ kitchen.

Margaret was a fervently dedicated sports fan, with an encyclopedic mind on all facets of basketball and football that kept her focused on many different teams throughout the country, especially her beloved North Carolina Tar Heels. And aside from the sports mania, she, with her sister Mary Louise, were avid travelers that made many trips throughout the U.S. and Canada, centering mostly on historic sites.

In a special presentation at Matthews Town Hall in 2011, the Matthews Human Services Council awarded Margaret the prestigious Nancy Glenn Community Servant Award, which is presented each year to an outstanding individual who has given considerable time and talents to make Matthews a better community. Margaret was recognized for her many years of service and contributions to the local churches, library, educational system, charities, and a variety of social organizations. And as homage to the town of Matthews, she allowed her home at 131 West Charles Street, where she lived from early childhood, to be approved and listed by the Mecklenburg Historical Landmarks Commission in order that the property be preserved as one of the few remaining prototypes that reflects a vital part of the Matthews history; the house was built by her father in 1925 on a plot that still retains the original chicken house and the frequently visited and photographed barn, the last surviving in-town barn in Mecklenburg County.

Margaret is survived by cousins Tom Phillips (Lib), Sam Phillips (Norma), and Richard Phillips, all of Denver, NC, as well as many other special cousins. And the family extends deepest appreciation to all of her caregivers and special family members and friends who have been so supportive in recent years.

The family will receive friends from ten o’clock until eleven o’clock in the morning on Thursday, the 28th of January, 2016. A service to celebrate her life will follow at eleven o’clock in the sanctuary at Matthews First Baptist Church, 185 South Trade Street, Matthews, NC and interment will be at Pleasant Plains Baptist Church cemetery.

Memorial contributions may be made to Matthews First Baptist Church, P.O. Box 248, Matthews, NC 28106 or to Hospice & Palliative Care, 1420 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204

Condolences may be offered at www.mcewenminthillchapel.com.