Deborah Ann Phillips

Deborah Ann “Debbie” Phillips went home to be with the Lord on August 25, 2026. She was born June 25, 1953, in Dallas, Texas, to Milton Andrew Whiting and Elva Ann Whiting.

Debbie grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended Brewer High School. While in high school, she met Gary Phillips at Castleberry Baptist Church in Fort Worth. The two later attended Bob Jones University, where Debbie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. They were married on June 7, 1976.

Over the years, Debbie lived in Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Japan, and Florida. In every place she lived, she created a network of friends who became family. She and Gary moved to Lakeland, Florida, in 1996, where Faith Baptist Church became their longtime church home.

Debbie was primarily a homemaker, though she also worked in accounting. She believed deeply in loving others through service. Quiet, calm, earnest, and devout, she rarely called attention to what she did for others. Instead, she simply noticed what needed doing and did it. She welcomed traveling missionaries into her home, cooked for those who needed a meal, and helped friends through moves by showing up ready to clean and work. Her children always knew they could bring friends home, and her only question would be how many people she needed to feed.

Her Christian faith was the guiding light of her life. She and Gary taught Sunday school to junior boys and girls at Faith Baptist Church, and Debbie also helped lead the AWANA Sparks class. Her faith was expressed not only in what she taught, but in the quiet and consistent way she cared for people.

Debbie loved gardening. Her yard became a place where her children and grandchildren learned to dig in the dirt, appreciate the natural world, and watch the life cycle of the hundreds of butterflies drawn to her garden. She was an avid photographer, and her favorite subjects were plants, animals, and, of course, her grandchildren. She also loved visiting gardens, working puzzles, sewing for her children and grandchildren, and reading to them.

She brought the same care to the ordinary details of life. Everywhere she went, she left neatly labeled, sorted, and dated containers in her beautiful handwriting. It was a small reflection of the thoughtfulness and order she brought to everything she did.

Debbie is survived by her husband of 50 years, Gary Phillips; her son, Stephen Phillips, and daughter-in-law, Lorraine Phillips, and their children, Kent and Clay Phillips; her daughter, Rebecca Ketchie, and son-in-law, Bill Ketchie, and their children, Christopher, Andrew, and Elizabeth Ketchie; her brothers, David Whiting and his wife, Marcia, and Bill Whiting and his wife, Rhonda; eight nieces and nephews; and many beloved friends who became family along the way.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Milton and Elva Whiting, and her brother, Edward Clay Whiting.

A memorial service will be held Thursday, September 3, 2026, at Faith Baptist Church in Winter Haven, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial gifts to Faith Baptist Mission (https://faithbaptistmission.org).

More than anything else, Debbie would want those who knew her to know the source of her hope. She trusted in Jesus Christ, and that faith shaped the way she lived, loved, served, and faced eternity. Her family shares that hope. Though they grieve her absence now, they do so knowing that this goodbye is not forever and trusting that, through Christ, they will be reunited with her one day.