Betty J. Phillips

Betty J. Phillips, a member of The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, age 88, died Friday, March 11, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 12:00PM, Saturday, March 19, 2016 at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 390 Pierce Ave., with burial in Riverside Cemetery, Macon, GA. The family will receive friends starting at 11:00AM at the church. Mrs. Phillips was born November 5, 1927 in Arlington, GA, the daughter of Clifford and Rachel Jordan. She graduated from Arlington High School as class salutatorian. She received a Bachelors and Masters in Education from Mercer University, a Specialist in Education from Georgia College and completed post graduate work at Oglethorpe University and Georgia Southwestern College. Mrs Phillips was a retired teacher, having taught History, Government, and Foreign Relations at Lanier High School for Boys, later Central High School, 1963-1987 and was an adjunct teacher of Political Science at Macon College and of American History at Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas, VA. Elected to the Bibb County Board of Education for two terms (1994-2002) she served in all positions and as President of the Board for two years. Mrs. Phillips' awards include being named six times as Star Teacher at Lanier and Central, the first Bibb County teacher to be named the 1975 Georgia Teacher of the Year and one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year. She was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Award for Community Service (WMAZ) and the Liberty Bell Award by the Middle Georgia Bar Association, and was named Woman of Achievement by the Business and Professional Women's Club, Warner Robins, GA. The Betty J. Phillips' Scholarship was established by a former student in 2001 and is administered by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators. Mrs. Phillips' community activities included service on the Board of Directors of the MidSouth Federal Credit Union and the Bibb Unit American Cancer Society. She served as a volunteer lobbyist (1988-1992) in both houses of the U.S. Congress for the American Association of University Women. In this capacity she worked to promote the Family Leave Act and childcare legislation and the protection of the benefits of Title IX. She served on the Editorial Board of "The Political Science Teacher", a publication of the American Political Science Association. She had also been a member of the League of Women Voters Macon, Macon Service League, Kappa Delta Pi-international Honor Society, American Association of University Women, The Historic Macon Foundation, Macon Arts Alliance, Central Georgia Opera Guild and the Georgia Teachers of the Year and the National State Teachers of the Year organizations. Mrs. Phillips was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Andrew Phillips, a son Charles Lewis, and a step-daughter Mary Ellen Phillips. She is survived by a sister Ida Carden, Cuthbert, GA, by two children Robert Lewis, Diriamba, Nicaragua, Elizabeth Lewis, Belfair, WA, 6 stepchildren: Craig Phillips, David Phillips, Robert Phillips, Debra Booker, Janet Rudock, Suzanne Blouia, several step grandchildren and great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 390 Pierce Ave. Macon, GA 31204 or the Betty J. Phillips Scholarship Fund, in care of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, address: PO Box 942270, Atlanta, GA 31141-2270. Register online at www.hartsmort.com. Hart's Mortuary and Crematory, Cherry Street, has charge of arrangements.