Leona-Mae DeGraw

Leona-Mae (Ony) DeGraw/Phillips, Major, USAF, Ret., died on Nov. 8, 2025, at her home in Kempner, TX, after a brief illness and surrounded by family. She was the third child of Charles Arthur DeGraw and Leona-Mae Burns and was born Aug. 11, 1949, in Beaver County, PA.

Ony graduated from New Brighton High School, Pennsylvania, in 1967. While there, she was a very popular student who participated in various school activities: she was in the school band, helped with the school paper, participated in school plays and was amember, and president of the Future Nurses of America club, to name just a few. Inspired to work in the medical field, she went on to study at the University of Pittsburgh and, following a five year program, graduated as a registered nurse.After college, she worked at Magee-Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA.After 18 months working there, she and a friend, another nurse, decided to join the service. After looking at the uniforms, they both agreed that they would look best in the Navy or Air force blues. Fortunately for the Air Force, Ony’s friend couldn’t swim! So, they both went AF.

Ony joined the U.S. Air Force on Jan. 3, 1974. While serving at her first assignment, Hill AFB, UT, she became interested in the Midwifery program, but was convinced by her chief nurse to enter a new program the AF was trying to institute, the Nurse Practitioner program. She attended school at the University of Kansas and became one of the earliest nurse practitioners in the USAF.

While serving in the Air Force, she met the love of her life, Steven L. Phillips, while the two of them were stationed in Alaska. After taming him, the two were married Oct. 5, 1985.

Steve and her new son, Steven L. Phillips II, followed Ony as she continued to serve as an OBGYN Nurse Practitioner in the Air Force. In 1989, they were living in Agana, Guam, where they adopted their youngest son, Robert “Artie” Phillips.

Ony retired from the Air Force on Jan. 31, 1994, while living in California, and soon after the family moved to Sumter, S.C. They lived in South Carolina until 2008, when they moved to Kempner, Texas.

Later in life, Ony became heavily involved in volunteer work, helping at her church, the local community, and various organizations and volunteer groups across Central Texas. Ony and Steve loved to travel, taking numerous trips together in their autumn years.

Ony was a loving wife and mother, who was always willing to offer a sympathetic ear and friendly advice. She always tried to see the best in people (even if it was hard to find), and could strike up a conversation with anyone, making new friends wherever she went (to the eternal consternation of her long-suffering husband). She had a kind heart, an inquisitive mind and a love for the world (especially elephants).

Her family will miss her every day of their lives.

Mrs. Phillips was preceded in death by her father, Charles DeGraw; and her mother, Leona-Mae Burns.

She is survived by her loving husband, Steven L. Phillips; two sons: Steven L. Phillips II (Tiffany) and Artie Phillips (Jackie); one daughter, Leslie Elaine Tackett (Mitchell); three granddaughters, Jessica Smith (Brian), Alexandria Myers and Madeleine Phillips; four grandsons, Austin Phillips, Benjamin Myers (Devin), Russell Phillips and Mickell York; one niece, Theresa Lynn; one grandniece, Shelby Lynn; multiple great-grandchildren: Dylan, Austin, Tyler, Christian, Brody, Abigail, Jamison, Evangeline, Trinity, Liam, Caiden and Logan; and numerous lifelong friends (far too many to list).

Memorial services will be held at noon Dec. 3, 2025, at Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home in Copperas Cove. Interment will follow at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery.