By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SILVERTON - Harry Guy Phillips believed in the value of education. He never stopped learning and urged others to do the same.

A former educator, World War II veteran, Postal Service employee and entrepreneur, Mr. Phillips died Saturday at Jewish Hospital Kenwood. The Silverton resident was 92.

"He was very instrumental in my going on to college - also my four children," said his daughter, Elizabeth Cunningham of Kennedy Heights.

Born in 1911 in Van Buren, Ark., Mr. Phillips was the oldest of four boys. "I think he was only about 7 or 8 when his mother died," his daughter said. "His father remarried and left them with the grandparents. It was not an easy life."

But Mr. Phillips earned a bachelor's degree in botany from Wichita State University.

He taught in the public school system in Vandalia, Mo., where he was principal of the then all-black Lincoln School.

Mr. Phillips served with the Army during World War II and was stationed in Okinawa and Hawaii, where he attended the University of Hawaii.

He worked at the Cincinnati Post Office for more than 30 years, and studied insurance and real estate at the University of Cincinnati. He operated a real estate and insurance agency for years.

Mr. Phillips was a founding member of the Queen City Bridge Club and taught the game to hundreds of people.

Other survivors include his wife of 50 years, Mildred H. Phillips; two sisters, Mary Davis of San Leandro, Calif., and Elizabeth Davis of Tulsa, Okla.; four grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and one great-great grandchild.

Mr. Phillips donated his body to the UC College of Medicine.

Visitation is 11 a.m. Friday with Kappa Alpha Psi service at 11:30 and a memorial service at noon at New Vision United Methodist Church.

Memorials: New Vision United Methodist Church, 4400 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45229.