Obituary of Addie Ann Strickland Phillips

Addie Ann Strickland Phillips, 78, passed away on May 3, 2023, finally succumbing to the cancer she had defeated twice before. She left this life peacefully, surrounded by her family.

Memorial Service: 10:00 a.m Friday, May 26, 2023 in the Sanctuary of Broadway Baptist Church, 305 W. Broadway, Fort Worth, Texas 76104. 

Addie Ann was born on Christmas Day, 1944 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wylber Alvis Strickland and Evelyn Corder Strickland. As a child, she lived in Fresno, CA and Nashville, TN, graduating from Nashville’s Donaldson High School in 1963.

She attended Oklahoma Baptist University, where she met Robert Phillips, whom she married shortly before graduating in December 1968 with a degree in Home Economics. For five years, while her husband completed his education, she worked for the Baptist Sunday School Board. In 1974, Addie Ann and Robert started their family of three daughters in Abilene, TX, and worked for four years as dorm directors at Hardin-Simmons University.

The family moved to Fort Worth, TX in 1980 and joined Broadway Baptist Church. In 1981, Addie Ann began working in the church’s Preschool ministry, first as a Sunday morning assistant and a weekday preschool teacher, then as the preschool program coordinator. She retired in May 2011.

In 2014, Addie Ann moved to Fairfax, CA to support her husband’s work at Golden Gate Seminary. They moved with the seminary to Ontario, CA, in 2016. She spent time there befriending and welcoming new students and being an active member of First Baptist Church, Rancho Cucamonga. She and her husband returned home to Fort Worth in 2021 and rejoined Broadway Baptist Church.

Addie Ann’s lifetime passions were God, her family, working with God’s children, and the church. God truly blessed her with the gift of caring. Wherever she was, Addie Ann was a devoted, patient, supportive, faithful, and encouraging woman who touched the lives of countless individuals.

She is survived by her husband, Robert Lloyd Phillips; three daughters, Robanne Stading of Homer, Alaska, Fayebeth Little of Katy, Texas, and Holly Phillips of Fort Worth, Texas; her brother, John Strickland and his wife, Joy, of Prather, California; and six grandchildren.