Biography of John Epaminondas Phillips, Written by Michael John Phillips on June 9, 2020.
My father, John Epaminondas Phillips, was a very strong man who had high standards, ideals, and great strength. Born in the little village of Drymonas, Lefkas, Greece in 1939, he grew up in a beautiful little village overlooking the Ionian sea. He had three sisters and one brother, and they grew up poor, always making the best of things during the worst of times. His own father was a great craftsman who built many of the houses in Lefkada, as well as a church.
My dad was greatly admired in Greece, and always took the highest honors in his school. He was the top student in his whole high school, and because of this he got to lead the parade through the town of Lefkada. Other respected him for his amazing intelligence and high marks in school. He also played the guitar in his high school orchestra.
When he was 19, he moved to America with just $40 in his pocket. Through sheer brute strength of will and determination, he managed to not only survive, but put himself through school doing night jobs.
Many years later, he bought a bowl of soup from a vending machine, and he choked on the noodle and almost died. Later he told the family, “I didn’t come all the way from Greece to America to choke on a noodle!” We always laughed at that story!
After he came to America, my dad went to college at UC Berkeley, where he met my mom Carla and fell in love. They had three boys, Michael, Gregory, and David, and lived for many years in Burbank, CA, until they moved to Huntington Beach in 1981. Around that time, my father Americanized our names, changing Philippas to Phillips, because nobody could pronounce or spell our correct Greek name.
Despite living in America for many decades, my father never lost his very heavy Greek accent. Instead of saying the word “beautiful,” he would say “beuriful.”
One day I said to him, “Dad, the word is pronounced “BEAUTIFUL!”
My dad said, “The Americans don’t say “BEAUTIFUL” (which he said PERFECTLY!), “they say “BEURIFUL!”
Every weekend, and after work, my dad would spend fixing things. Always, always, always fixing things! Whatever was broken, he took apart, and then most of the time he figured out how to fix it! I learned a great deal just watching my dad, and to this day, I know how to fix things too!
I would like to say that my father was a kind and loving man – and he was. I would also like to say he was always happy. But in reality, my father was sometimes upset. I think his heart was always back in Greece. I also feel leaving Greece caused him great scars, pain, and anger, that never healed.
My dad earned his electrical engineering degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a master’s in Environmental Engineering, as well as earning an E.E.E. degree. in Electrical Engineering from USC. For twenty-nine years he worked as an Electrical Engineer at Southern California Edison. He was laid off, and then he taught High School science for twelve years, as well as teaching Greek, and online college classes.
My dad was very smart, and he had a photographic memory. He could learn anything. He told me once that he could still remember his high school textbooks, and could see the actual pages in his mind! I always thought that was amazing.
One of the things my dad taught me was the value of hard work. I never met anyone in my life who worked as hard as he did! He always tried to do the right thing, and was very stubborn. I wish that he had learned how to take life easier, and less seriously.
Whenever we would ask him for something – anything – the answer as always “NO!” This is funny looking back, but not so funny growing up!
My dad was also very gifted musically, and could play the guitar, and even the piano and violin a little. I always enjoyed hearing him play the guitar, and he would sing wonderful Greek songs like Psi Lastin Kostelada, and Barba Yianni.
Yianni. That is the name his wife called him, and his Greek friends called him Spiroyiannis. It always confused me when I was little. Why did everyone call him different names? It turns out, in Greek his name is long and can be translated as “Spearo John.”
Because my dad was so gifted with his hands, he decided one day to build a guitar! He took classes and learned how to build it, and it took him many months to do it. He used all kinds of special woods and finishes. It is one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen, and he loved that guitar until the day he died.
Even though my father was very intense and serious most of his life, which I believe is what caused him many physical ailments, he also had a wonderful sense of humor too. One day my father was working in the back yard, and he left an unopened can of Coke in the garage. I snuck into the garage, poked a hole in the bottom of the unopened can, and drained out all the coke! Then I filled it back up with water, and taped up the hole.
My father came back into the garage, and opened the Coke, thinking it was brand new. He took a big sip of it and spewed it all out in surprise! We kids all laughed really hard! That is the only joke I ever played on my father, but it was a good one that I will always remember.
My dad also had a great love of kids, and a huge heart to help people when he could. He cared very deeply for his family and friends, and if you were his friend, you knew it!
One thing I always appreciated about Dad was he encouraged me in my music. He used to tell me to get my music out there, and I appreciated his enthusiasm. Thanks Dad.
When my father finally got to the age to retire, he suddenly began acting very strangely. He was telling us he was confused, and didn’t know what was wrong. We took him to doctor after doctor, and they said he was depressed. They tried all kinds of pills and therapies, and he even had to go the mental hospital a few times because he was not stable.
Finally, the doctors figured out that he had Frontal Temporal Dementia, a strange kind of dementia that left him very mean and angry towards other people unless he had the right medications.
After several years of trying, they finally got his medications right, and he became much kinder and more loving when we would visit him.
I always felt very sad that he got sick and couldn’t enjoy the last years of his life, because he had worked so hard, only to lose so much at the end.
I am grateful that I visited him last year, and my mother and I took a piano keyboard to his board and care facility. I played and sang for him for two hours, and he seemed very pleased.
This was to be the last time I ever saw my father in real life.
Due to my father’s dementia and unknown sickness, he could not eat much for the last several years of this life. We always told him to eat more, but he had no desire to eat. This was a source of tension.At one point, he was treated with a feeding tube directly into his stomach so he would not starve to death. But, this solution was not something that could be continued forever, and he did not want a feeding tube again.
He became very ill with pneumonia, and he died in Steilacoom, Washington on June 1st, 2020.
I will always miss my dad and the incredible lessons of love he taught me, of perseverance, and also sadly of how not to react in life.
I join my brothers and mother and family in Greece in mourning the loss of a wonderful, special man who touched many people with his wisdom and fierce intellect.
Dad, pateras-mou, I love you, and I will always miss you.
Your “Chief”
Mike
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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