Philip Cooke Giffin

Philip Cooke Giffin, age 86, died January 28, 2019 in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 12, 1932 to Paul Cooke Giffin and Essie Hicks. He married Elmeda Schubert on August 21, 1955, in Ontario, Ohio. They had two children: Timothy Paul Giffin and Catherine Nadine Giffin.

Philip graduated from Oberlin, Ohio High School in 1951. He graduated from Oberlin College in 1955, and attended Kent State University for one year doing graduate study.

In 1956 he taught 6th grade at Woodville Elementary School in Mansfield, Ohio, until 1961. In 1961 he took a teaching position with Ontario, teaching 7th grade at Ontario’s Junior High school. He taught there until he retired in 1990. While at Ontario, he coached many junior high sports teams, including boys’ and girls’ basketball, football and track. He coached Ontario High School track from 1977-1988 and Ontario High School cross country. After he retired, he returned to coaching at Ontario and coached junior high track and cross country from 1999-2014.

He researched and wrote a book about the history of Ontario High School track from its beginning in 1930 thru 2014. He also wrote about the girls’ track history from 1970 to 2014. There are copies of these books in the Ontario High School library and in the Richland County Public Library, Ontario Branch.

While teaching at Woodville Elementary School, Phil was president of the Madison Teachers Association in 1961. He was also treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Teachers for many years.

He was a member of the Royal Scots Highlanders Bagpipe Band from 1976 to 2003.

He enjoyed painting as a hobby and painted portraits of many of the Ontario United Methodist ministers. These portraits hang on a hallway wall at Ontario United Methodist Church.

Phil also liked to write poetry, verse, and lyrics, many of which he wrote about his students, teasing them. (They loved it).

He is survived by his wife, Elmeda; his daughter, Cathy (Kevin) Cook; daughter-in-law, Kathy Giffin Beck; 12 grandchildren; and 20 great grandchildren. His grandchildren are Justin (Vanessa) Cook, Kara (Andrew) Brewer, Ryan (Linnea) Cook, Krista (Tim) Gamble, Keesa (Ken) Palmer, Kyle Cook, Kaylin (Justin) Simonic, Katie Cook, Karlie Cook, Rachel (Jon) Boulos, Sarah (Christian) Nass, and Daniel Giffin.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Timothy Giffin, who died in 2002.

The family will receive friends from 1:00-5:00 p.m. Sunday, February 3, 2019, at the Ontario Home of Wappner Funeral Directors, 100 S. Lexington-Springmill Rd. Additional visitation will be held at Ontario United Methodist Church, 3540 Park Avenue West, from 10:00-11:30 a.m. Monday, February 4, with the funeral service immediately following at 11:30 a.m. Rev. Peg Welch will conduct the service. Philip will be laid to rest in Ontario Cemetery.