MAJOR W.M. PHILLIPS OF MT.V. DIES IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Major William M. (Bill) Phillips, 47, a well known Mt. Vernon resident and former county highway superintendent here, died from a heart attack Saturday afternoon in Washington, D. C.

Major Phillips, of the U. S. Air Force, had been working for almost two years a the Pentagon. He became ill suddenly Saturday morning and was rushed to the Army Hospital in Washington, where his death occurred.

The body will be brought to Mt. Vernon for funeral services and burial. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

Major Phillips, as overseas veteran of World War II, was born April 9, 1905 in Mt. Vernon, the son of the late W. B. and Nettie Phillips. His father served for years in the Illinois state legislature.

Bill, as he was known by his many Mt. Vernon friends, was a graduate of Mt. Vernon High school and the University of Illinois.

He served in the Air Force in Europe for three years during World War II.

A civil engineer, he was for some time Jefferson county superintendent of highways, He resigned from that position to become a partner with Kenneth Setzekorn here in the engineering firm of Phillips and Setzekorn.

Major Phillips, who was in the U. S. Air Force Reserve and headed the local Reserve group, was called to active service in 1950.

He served two years in Japan before being assigned to duty at the Pentagon in the nation's capital.

Major Phillips was marred in 1937 to Helen Gavin of Grafton, Ill.

Besides his wife, he is survived by four sisters; Mrs. Howard Larson of Elmhurst, Ill., Mrs. Ted Adams of Denver, Colo.,Mrs., W. O. Wallace of Daytona Beach, Fla., and Mrs. Arthur Warren of Mt. Vernon.

He was a member of the American Legion and the Elks Lodge here.

Source: Unknown
Date: (no date) about 1952
Submitted by David Herron
Relationship: 1st cousin twice removed of W. M. Phillips