Verla Venable Phillips

Mrs. Verla Marsh Venable Phillips, 92, of Mount Airy, passed away peacefully on Wednesday evening, December 11, 2019, with her family at her side.  She was born October 24, 1927, in Lee County, to the late Mamie Brown and Wesley J. Marsh.  In addition to her parents, Mrs. Phillips was preceded in death by her husband of 36 years, James Elbert “Doc” Venable, Jr.; her second husband of 14 years, Fred Randall Phillips; two brothers, Kemp Marsh and Boyd Marsh; and three sisters, Desta Tilley, Vallie Atkins, and Lema Bryant.  She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Lu Ann Venable Browne and Charles E. Browne of Mount Airy; two granddaughters, Mary Beth Browne of Nashville, TN, and Laura Browne of Mount Airy; and a special friend, Coley Jones.  Mrs. Phillips was a faithful member of Little Mountain Baptist Church for 55 years, rarely ever missing a service, and served as church treasurer for 53 of those years.  In 1943, at the age of 16, she began work at Jackson Brothers Department Store in Downtown Mount Airy, which became Baldwin’s Department Store in 1968, where she was manager and buyer for the store until her retirement in 2001, a total of 58 years.  The funeral service will be held Sunday, December 15, 2019, at 2:00 PM at Little Mountain Baptist Church in Ararat, with the Reverend Rayton Puckett and the Reverend Bill Watson officiating.  Burial will follow in the Hutchens-Venable Cemetery on Venable Farm Road, Mount Airy.  The family will receive friends at Moody Funeral Home in Mount Airy on Saturday, December 14, 2019, from 6:00 until 8:00 PM, and Mrs. Phillips will also lie-in-state 30 minutes prior to the service at the church on Sunday.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Hutchens-Venable Cemetery Fund, c/o Kenneth Kallam, 227 Kallam Road, Mount Airy, NC  27030.  The family wishes to thank friends, health care workers, and caregivers who supported her and the entire family during her brief illness.