Dr. Phillip Howard Gifford, II

Phillip H. Gifford II was born to Phillip H. Gifford and Eva Sandrock Gifford on August 17, 1930, in Urbana, Ohio. After a few years of poor health, he passed away at home on June 15, 2023, in Grand Junction, Colorado. He was 92 years old.

Spending his childhood in Urbana, and shortly after graduating from Urbana High School, he joined the United States Air Force. He qualified for the Monterey Army Language School and became fluent in Yugoslavian; consequently, he was stationed in Germany listening to the sky over Yugoslavia during the cold war. Receiving an honorable discharge, he and his wife and son returned to Ohio where he enrolled in a combination Bachelors/Masters four-year degree at The Ohio State University under the G.I. Bill. He majored in Chemical Engineering and was inducted into the three honor societies of Math, Chemistry and Engineering. He continued at the university, receiving his doctorate in Chemical Engineering in 1961. During those years, he always raised an incredible garden, a fact that has always been a good memory for his son, Phil, who learned and carried on the tradition.

He worked for various oil companies for most of his career as a research engineer on various oil shale research programs, and also worked on his own developing two patents. He always chose the research side in any company, never the management side.

When his first came to Colorado, he knew this would always be his first choice as a permanent home. In 1965, he married Evalee McKay of Parachute, Colorado, and when her family purchased Beaver Lake Lodge in Marble, Phil and Evalee bought a home in Marble and helped her family with the lodge. He loved the wilderness surrounding Marble and spent much of his free time hiking in that wilderness and along the way taught his children to love all wilderness. The Marble home was one the Gifford family always returned to when an oil shale project ended. In 1991, when his last project ended, Phil retired and he and Evalee returned to Marble and lived there until 2000 when they sold the Marble home and moved to Grand Junction.

Another place that was important to Phil was the Sonoran desert around Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the border south of Ajo, Arizona. The family spent many years camping and hiking in the Monument and surrounding BLM, often with friends, and always with their children, Connor and Matt. Later, Phil and Evalee were able to spend part of their winters in the family house in Ajo.

When Phil retired and had more time, he enjoyed reading Civil War history, and he even made some trips to Civil War battlegrounds. He also enjoyed working extremely difficult math problems. Last, but not least, he enjoyed Ohio State football. While a student at the University, he never missed their home games and he continued following them for the rest of his life. Go Buckeyes!

He was pre-deceased by his parents and his two sisters, Donna Kessler of Urbana, Ohio, and Frances Black of Cable, Ohio, and his brothers-in-law, Ken Kessler and Bob Black. In addition to his wife, Evalee, he is survived by his daughter, Connor, of Phoenix, Arizona, and his sons, Phillip (Carol) of Norfolk, Virginia, and Matthew (Angelique) of Carbondale, Colorado, his granddaughters, Tonya Bennett and Kyle Newton, and his four great-grandchildren, Jasper, Mas, Felix and Margot, all of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and his grandson, Hunter Gifford, of Carbondale, Colorado. His is also survived by several nieces and nephews.

Per his wishes, there were no services. Private burial has taken place in the Battlement Mesa Cemetery in Parachute, CO.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.callahan-edfast.com for the Gifford, II family.