Philip Jeffries

Philip G. Jeffries, age 79, of Lamar, died at his home, Sunday June 14 after a 2 year illness. Mr. Jeffries was born October 19, 1929, in Lamar, Missouri, to James N. and Effie Caroline (Gordon) Jeffries.  He was the youngest of 13 living siblings.  During high school he worked at F.M. Thorpe Manufacturing Company.  He graduated from Lamar High School in 1947.  After graduation he began working at Barton County REA.  On June 27, 1948, he married his high school sweetheart, Wilmetta Frogge.  During early marriage he became an ordained Baptist minister, preaching in various rural churches wherever his work took him.  He later took jobs with Horton Engineering Company and Finley Engineering Company at which time they lived away from Lamar for three years, moving back to Lamar in 1963.  In 1971, they moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he worked as a telephone engineer with Allied Telephone Company (now Alltel).  The last 18 months before retiring, he went into a partnership forming NDE (Network Design Engineering) and was the consultant over the underground telephone construction in the Micronesian Islands.  While living of Pohnpei, he led weekly Bible studies attended by Australians, Germans, Filipinos, and Americans, baptizing a convert in the Pacific Ocean.  He also filled in preaching at the Protestant church when the minister was off island.  Due to declining health, they moved back to Lamar, Missouri in December 2008 where he was a member of Calvary Baptist Church.   Survivors include his wife of nearly 61 years, Wilmetta Jeffries; their children, Dennis and Carol Jeffries, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Gale and Tom Main, Lamar; nine grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren; two sisters, Ethel Butler, Lamar and Ruth Newman, Carthage, Missouri; two brothers, Jesse Jeffries, Carthage, and Robert Jeffries, Lamar.  Philip was preceded in death by four brothers and six sisters. Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, June 17th at Daniel Funeral Home.  Burial will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery.       The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home.   Memorial Contributions may be made to Arkansas Children’s Hospital or Gideon’s International in care of Daniel Funeral Home.   This obituary may be viewed and condolences sent @ www.danielfuneralhome.net