Paul Eugene Phillips, 74, after a long struggle with colon cancer, passed peacefully on the morning of Sunday, June 24, 2018 while surrounded by family in his home in Greeley, CO. Paul was born in Lexington, NE to parents Roy Albert and Gladys Irene Phillips (née Brandenburg) on September 11, 1943. The oldest of four, Paul and his siblings were raised in CA when career opportunities lead his father to relocate the family to the Redondo Beach area outside of Los Angeles. As the saying goes, however, you can take the boy out of the country, but not the country out of the boy. Thus it was, not long after graduating from Redondo Union High School in 1961, Paul and his cherished, rebuilt Ford Model A headed back to his aunt and uncle's farm in Cornhusker country. In time, Paul began working in the meat packing industry, a move that would eventually lead to a career spanning thirty plus years as a USDA meat inspector and – with the exception of a brief residency in Arizona – putting permanent roots down in Greeley, CO.

Always helping with the planting and tending of those roots was the love of Paul's life, Shirley Ann McCreery, whom he married on March 14, 1975 at the Methodist church in her hometown of Ft. Morgan, CO. In their forty plus years of marriage, they enjoyed traveling, camping, cheering on their favorite sports teams, and loving on the many pets they had throughout their time together. Sadly, recent years proved difficult for Paul and Shirley as each received their own grim diagnoses in turn and, as time marched on, bad days began to outnumber the good. In spite of his own failing health, Paul nevertheless diligently tended and cared for Shirley in their own home until the end, when she passed on March 21 of this year. It was in those interim years, though, that Paul, with Shirley at his side (or on the back of his Harley), packed in a lot of happy memories.

With an affinity for leather and black powder rifles and a perpetual Grizzly Adam's beard, one could imagine Paul was a man born from the memory of another era. He loved hunting and mountain man rendezvous in the Rockies, visiting family in NE, riding his hog through Sturgis, SD, retreating to his basement to tool leather, or just kicking back with a newspaper and a ballgame. The displays of Harley Davidson memorabilia and turkey hunting conquests in his home were only barely outdone by the "Nebraska Room", a red and white Huskered homage to the beloved college team of his birthplace. Like the smile he often kept hidden behind whiskers – some of his kin noting, by the by, that in all the years they knew him, they never did see his naked chin outside of the occasional old photo – Paul's quiet, reticent sense of humor was known to peak out unexpectedly from behind his normally stoic façade.

On the whole, a man of few words, perhaps it is fair to say Paul's composed, yet indomitable presence did much of the talking for him. Going forward, the conversation of our lives will be all the quieter for the silence left in his wake. Until we meet again, Paul will always be remembered by his loved ones as a beloved brother, uncle, cousin, and friend.

Paul was preceded in death by his parents, his wife of 43 years, and his youngest brother, Robert Phillips, as well as numerous aunts and uncles.

Paul is survived by his sister, Sharon Gregory, and her husband, David, of Vancouver, WA, as well as his brother, Steve Phillips, and his wife, Kim, of Oxford, AL. Paul is also survived by his numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Funeral services will be Friday, June 29, 2018 at 11 AM at the Sanctuary in Ft. Morgan, CO, with a light lunch to be provided afterward. Cremation and interment will follow at Ft. Morgan, CO Riverside Cemetery at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to your local humane society in Paul's name. Oh, and don't forget to root for those Huskers. It's what he would have wanted.