Lona Marie Hollis Phillips was born on February 15, 1937 in Alabama. She lived with her parents John Isaac Hollis and Josephine Skelton Hollis in Jefferson County. At the age of 24, she married Farlon Monroe Phillips on November 10, 1961. They moved to Dora to be closer to family and had three children: Terry Wayne, Tina Kay, and Sherrie Lynne. Living on the same road as Farlon’s parents, brother, and sisters meant their family circle expanded well beyond the five of them. Later on, Farlon and Lona’s adult children and grandchildren gathered for many Christmas celebrations, which were filled with jigsaw puzzles, waking to the smell of cooking bacon, Kool-Aid popsicles, and feeding crackers to their goats. After the death of her husband in 2017, Lona moved to Texas to be near her daughter Sherrie. In this final stage of life, she enjoyed weekly lunches with Sherrie, endless word-search puzzles, and talking about her great-grandchildren to anyone who would listen. She died on February 16, 2022 just a day after her 85th birthday.
She will be remembered by her children Sherrie (Derek) Dodson, Terry Phillips, Tina Chadwick; grandchildren Caleb Chadwick, Arianna (José) Ospino, Kelsey (Taylor) Crouch-Dodson, Brenna Chadwick, Emily Dodson; and her great-grandchildren Timothy Owen Ospino, William David Ospino, and Rowan Edward Crouch-Dodson.
Services will be held Tuesday, February 22, 2022. Visitation from 1-2 in the New Horizon Memorial Funeral Home Chapel. Graveside service and interment will follow in McCormack Cemetery.
