Mary Elizabeth Phillips, 87, passed away peacefully on the summer afternoon of July 22, 2017, at Main Street Care Center in Avon Lake, Ohio. She was born in Marshall County Kentucky on March 7, 1930, the daughter of Dewey Lafayette Riley and Edith Canup Riley.
Liz married Joe H. Phillips in Corinth, Mississippi in 1946 after his return from the German Front in WWII. They lived in Murray, Kentucky for 5 years before moving to Marshall County to a house near the old Cherry Grove School where Liz attended classes before enrolling in the Benton City Schools.
Over the years she worked in retail and at the Magnavox Company in Paducah. She also managed an antique booth on the square in Benton.
She attended New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church where her mother taught Sunday School for many years.
Liz loved pink roses, March flowers, crisp autumn days, country auctions, flea markets and all animals, especially her Manx cat, Missy. She could swim and water ski, drive a straight shift truck, milk a cow, stitch up a pretty dress, and make a mean chocolate pie.
She could also be determined (she taught a parakeet to talk) and brave (she spent the night with girl scouts in a cabin with hundreds of spiders on the ceiling even though she hated spiders).
Her family, friends and home were the most important things in the world to her. She always had a smile for everyone.
Liz is survived by her daughters, Sharon (Tony) Denslow of Elyria, Ohio and Tammy (Greg) Barclay of Memphis, Tennessee; her granddaughters, Erin(Brett) Boron of Grafton, Ohio and Kate Denslow of Amherst, Ohio and her great granddaughter, Addison Boron of Grafton, Ohio; her sister, Martha Bohanon and her brother, Charles Riley both of Benton.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Joe Hilton Phillips; her grandson, Eli Siress, and her sister Emma Lee Taylor.
Funeral service will be held on Friday, July 28, 2017 at 3:00 p.m., Bro. Charlie Canup officiating.
Interment will follow in the Cole Cemetery, Benton.
Visitation will be held between the hours of 1-3 p.m. on Friday, July 28, 2017, at Collier Funeral Home.