Born in Greenville, South Carolina, he was a son of the recently deceased W. Alvin Phillips, Sr., and the late Florine Gilstrap Phillips.
Billy was one of three children who grew up helping with the family business of building houses. He began to specialize in carpentry and woodworking and became a master cabinet maker, which he did for most of his working life.
Billy loved hunting, construction and farming equipment, and church activities until recently, when he took care of his father for several years. He attended Brushy Creek Baptist Church in Taylors.
Billy is survived by his sons, William Barry Phillips of Taylors and Jeffrey Keith Phillips of Inman, and by his grandchildren, Bailey Phillips, Emma Phillips, Elliot Phillips, and Hudson Phillips. Billy was predeceased by his brother, Gary Charles Phillips in 2017 and his sister, Elizabeth Bowers in 2007.
Memorials can be made to the Greenville Health System Cancer Institute.