LEE RANSOM PHILLIPS, 96 years of age, died on March 23, 2009, at Lorien Nursing Facility in Bel Air, M

A Bel Air resident from 1963 to 1985, Mr. Phillips had been the manager of the former F. W. Woolworth store on Main Street in Bel Air until his retirement in December of 1978. From 1979 until 1987, he was a school bus operator for Harford County Public Schools. Until moving to the Lorien facility, he lived in Whiteford, MD, with his wife of twenty-two years, Louise Morris Phillips, who predeceased him in January, 2006.

Mr. Phillips was born on Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, at his grandmother's farm house in Erie County, Ohio, during the great Ohio flooding of 1913. His grandmother recalled that the water rose up to the middle of the bed's legs!

Because of difficulties his parents experienced, at the age of 10 he and his sister Marilyn Phillips Hill and brother John were placed in the Erie County Children's Home. He lived there for two years after which time his aunt and uncle took him into their home, where he lived through his graduation from South High School in Youngstown, Ohio.

For five months after his high school graduation, Mr. Phillips "rode the rails" and lived as a hobo. During those months he met Jeff Davis, the so-called king of the hobos, who urged him to return to home and further his schooling. Following that advice, he entered Hiram College in Hiram Ohio, where he studied for two years.

In the summer of 1933 he joined the Clyde Beatty Circus where he was the barker for snake-dancer Madame Zsa Zsa and cared for her snakes.

In the fall of 1933, he began his employment as a meat cutter for the A & P supermarket; and in the spring of 1934 he was hired as a stockman at the Woolworth store in Youngstown, Ohio. Mr. Phillips began the manager trainee program of the F. W. Woolworth Co. in January of 1935. Thereafter, he worked as an assistant manager at stores in Pittsburgh, Washington, and Lancaster, PA, as well as the store on the Boardwalk at Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, NJ. Later he worked in Philadelphia, Allentown, and Upper Darby, PA.

In September of 1939, he married Helen Goslin Phillips, an employee of the Bethlehem, PA, Woolworth store. They had one son, Robert Lee Phillips, now a Roman Catholic priest of the Society of Jesus, who works in Washington, DC. Helen Phillips died in June, 1983.

Mr. Phillips was named manager of the Woolworth store in Elkins, WV, in January of 1941, and came to a larger store in Washington, DC, at 18th and Columbia Rd., in June, 1942.

In the spring of 1944, he was called to military service in the U.S. Army, doing his basic training at Ft. Knox, KY, followed by Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, GA. At the latter base while on guard duty he had the unique (and delightful) experience of challenging General George S. Patton, who was testing the perimeter fence line. Mr. Phillips was commissioned as a second lieutenant in November, 1945. After brief stays at Ft. McClellan, AL, and Ft. Ord, CA, he was assigned to Army Exchange Service as the officer in charge of the Post-Exchange stores in Manila of the Philippines. There he had a seat on the platform when Gen. Douglas MacArthur delivered his "I have returned" speech.

After his honorable discharge, he was assigned as the manager of the Woolworth store in Altoona, PA, and then as the manager of the Store #1114, at 6639 Bel Air Rd. in Overlea, MD. He managed store in Overlea for thirteen years until his reassignment in the winter of 1960 to the multi-level store in Butler, PA. There he guided the store through a major remodeling. In January 1963, he came to Bel Air, MD, as the manager of the Main Street store.

Mr. Phillips was an active member of Lions International, serving as deputy district governor in district 22A in the 1960s. He served as President of the Overlea Lions Club and vice-president of the Mason-Dixon Lions Club. In the 1970s, he was the President of the Maryland Golf and Country Club in Harford County.

Mr. Phillips is survived by his son, Rev. Robert Phillips, S.J., of Washington, DC., and nieces Carol Albright and Susan Strauss, as well as stepchildren of the Morris family, Alan Morris, and his wife, Rosie; Linda (Morris) Gall and her husband, Glenn; James Morris, and his wife, Sarah; and Deborah (Morris) Mullin, and her husband, Mike; and by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at Delta United Methodist Church, 213 Main St., Delta, PA, on Thursday evening, March 26, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. followed by a vigil service of prayer.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday morning at 11 a.m., March 27, preceded by visitation in the church from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. at the parish of Saint Margaret, 141 N. Hickory Ave., Bel Air, MD.

Interment will follow at Highview Memorial Gardens, 3433 Fallston Road, Fallston, MD.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Maryland Province of Society of Jesus, 8600 LaSalle Road, Towson, MD 21286.

Obituary was written by his son, Rev. Robert Phillips. S. J.