Alva Kyle Phillips

Alva Kyle Phillips was my Dad. He was born in Glen Avon to Elsie ( Hall ) Phillips and Elmer Phillips. He has an older brother Gale, An older sister, known as Rowena or Phoebe also an older sister who died at 14 months of age from influenza. She was the third child and my Dad was the 4th child. His grandparents were John Wesley and Mary Molly ( Hazel ) Hall and Solomon and Sarah PHillips. Dad's mother was injured during a freak train accident while on her way to Fisher, Illinois to visit her parents. Dad was 7 months old. He was raised partially by Ida and Alva Forrest, Elsie's sister and brother - in - law. However, Ida died after childbirth in 1924 and it is not quite certain where he went from there. During the depression he became a wrestler for a traveling carnival and that is where he met his future wife, my mother, Alpha Merle Cavashere. They met in either Little Rock Arkansas or Blytheville, Arkansas. The ran away and got married in Kennett, Missouri. They married in 1931 and in 1943, they had their first child, Sandra Kay, in 1944, Jennifer Lynn came along and in 1945, Kenneth Edward Phillips was born. They thought they were through but on August 31, 1951 their last child, Debra Elaine Phillips was born. Kyle and Merle had worked in an ammunition plant and eventually owned their own moving business, called Phillips and Son.Kyle also worked as a sexton for Bloomington City Cemetery and in 1957 became a McLean County Sheriff's Deputy in McLean County, Illinois. He retired in 1969 and lived out his life in LeRoy, Illinois until his death on January 9, 1975. He was buried out of the old Stamper's Funeral Home in Bloomington and is buried at the East Lawn Memorial Cemetery across from the airport on Route 9 in Bloomington, Illinois. Along side of him rest his Brother Gale and wife, Alpha Merle Phillips. As of 2013, all of his children survive him. Grandchildren surviving are Kathy ( Jeff ) Misch, Randy Hadfield, Lana Stewart, all of Downs, Raymond Fleming of Alachua, Florida, and James Fleming also of Downs, Illinois, Kenneth Bays and Kimberly Givens of Downs. Rodney (Misty) Phillips and Dennis (Louann) Phillips all of Heyworth and Tonya (Chuck) Klepper of Morristown, Tennessee. 1 grandson, Lyle Nunamaker and 2 great grandsons, Steven Nunamaker and Cody Klepper preceded him in death. 11 great - grandchildren and 20 great - great grandchildren.survive him.