Virginia Phillips Obituary

PHILLIPS, Virginia FLORENCE- Miss Virginia Coker Phillips, 92, of The Methodist Manor of the Pee Dee died Monday, August 20, 2007. Virginia C. Phillips was born October 10, 1914 in Williamsburg County. She was the daughter of Sarah Coker Phillips and Willie Thomas Phillips, and was a member of All Saints' Episcopal Church in Florence, SC. Miss Phillips was a graduate of Kingstree High School. She graduated from McLeod School of Nursing in 1936 and in 1938 received a degree in Ward Management and Teaching from Vanderbilt University. She earned a B.S degree in Public Health Nursing from the University of North Carolina in 1951 and received her Nursing and Clinical Experience from the University of Minnesota in 1957. She received her Masters in Public Health Nursing from the University of North Carolina in 1958. Miss Phillips' public health nursing career spans over 40 years. It began in Alabama with the State Department of Health. In 1947 she moved to Greenwood, SC, as director of public health nursing. On her return to Columbia she worked statewide as a nurse consultant in Heart, Tuberculosis, and Cancer Programs. In 1958 she became Associate Professor and Chair of Public Health Nursing at the University of South Carolina. From there, she became Associate State Director of Public Health Nursing and Director of Home Health Services. In 1972, she became the State Director of Public Health Nursing and served in that capacity until her retirement in 1979. During her tenure, Miss Phillips was involved in the planning and development of several major agency activities. These included the formation of 14 health districts, the reorganization of the State Board of Health to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the development and implementation of the Home Health Program statewide, the introduction of new federally funded programs (WIC and Family Planning) and Development of the District Nursing Director and Program Nurse Specialist positions and the expansion of nurse consultant positions to include all program areas. She provided leadership for the statewide accreditation of community and home health services by the National League for Nursing and the American Public Health Association. South Carolina was the first and remains the only state to achieve this distinction. After her retirement from SCDHEC, she became Administrator of Clemson Downs Nursing Center. Miss Phillips served in numerous leadership positions over the years. She was a member of the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Directors of Nursing, South Carolina League for Nursing, and Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society. She was past president of the South Carolina Nurses Association and Vice-President of the South Carolina Public Health Association. Her expertise was valued across organizations and health professions: SC Medical Association Task Force on Nurse Midwifery, SC Heart Association Board of Directors, Vice-Chair Mental Health State Plan Advisory Council, and the Southern Regional Education Board. For more than 25 years, the public health nurses of South Carolina have annually honored Miss Phillips' legacy of excellence in leadership and teaching with a day devoted to recognition of the statewide work of public health nurses, a national speaker, and scholarships awarded for undergraduate and graduate study in nursing and public health. The first Virginia C. Phillips Scholarship Award for baccalaureate in nursing was given in 1980. The first Virginia C. Phillips Graduate Scholarship was presented in 1998. Virginia C. Phillips Community and Home Health Day has become a model for other states throughout the nation. Miss Phillips received the Excellence in Nursing Practice Alice B. Comer Award, from McLeod School of Nursing in 1939. In 1965, she was presented the award SCNA-Outstanding Contribution by the American Nurses Association. In 1978, she was given the Outstanding Employee Award presented by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. In 1979, she was awarded the prestigious Anna Fillmore Award for Leadership in Community Health Nursing by the National League of Nursing. Also in 1979, Miss Phillips was awarded the James Hayne Outstanding Contribution to Public Health by the South Carolina Public Health Association. On October 13, 1999, Miss Phillips was honored by Governor Jim Hodges with the Order of the Palmetto. Miss Phillips was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church in Columbia, SC until 1982, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Clemson, SC, until her move to Florence in 1996, where she was an active member of All Saints' Episcopal Church. Miss Phillips is survived by her two sisters, Naomi Phillips Ward and Ruth Phillips Grayson, both of Kingstree and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by brothers, Cecil Phillips, Wilbur Phillips, Leslie Phillips, Coker Phillips, W.T. Phillips, Henry Phillips, Jack Phillips and sister, Mary P. Epps. Funeral services for Miss Phillips will be held 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at Cedar Grove Baptist Church in the Cedar Swamp community near Kingstree, with Rev. Bob Crawford and Rev. J. Melvin Bell officiating. Burial will follow in the Church Cemetery. Visitation is one hour,(10:00 a.m.) prior to the funeral service in the sanctuary of the church. Pallbearers will be her grandnephews Adam Ward, Sean Grayson, Bart Grayson, Ward Powell, Paul Phillips and Doug Phillips. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Virginia C. Phillips Scholarship Fund c/o SC Nurses Foundation, 1821 Gadsden Street, Columbia, SC 29201 or Cedar Grove Baptist Cemetery Fund. Box 3905, Kingstree, SC 29556. A special thank you from her family is extended to all of the staff at the Methodist Manor of the Pee Dee in Florence, SC and all the loving support of her friends. WILLIAMSBURG FUNERAL HOME OF KINGSTREE is assisting the family. Visit our guestbook at www.charleston.net/deaths.