July 31, 1916 - Nov. 9, 2008

Joseph Kock "JK" Phipps died Sunday, Nov. 9, at the Corvallis Manor. He was 92. JK was born on July 31, 1916, to Joseph and Ida Anderson Phipps in Grant City, Mo. He graduated from Grant City High School in 1934 and then attended Northwest Missouri State College and received a Bachelor of Science in education in 1938. He taught in Union Starr and Grant City high schools until 1942. In 1943, he received his commission as an officer in the Army Air Corps and became an instructor of meteorology at Randolph Field, Texas. As an officer in the Army he served in Central Flying Training Command and retired as a captain. In 1946, while serving as a counseling officer in the separation center at Camp Grant at Rockford, Ill., he fell in love with a nurse who was working in the Infantile Paralysis Foundation. He married Jean Strickland on Aug. 5, 1946. In 1952, JK received his Master's in Education from the University of Missouri. He coached athletics and taught junior high at Davenport, Iowa. In 1952, he moved to California where he served as a junior high school principal in Long Beach and Anaheim. He retired in 1976 and the couple moved to Corvallis in 1992.

JK was an active member of the Methodist Church all his life in which he served many roles. He was a member of the Corvallis United Methodist Church. He was a charter member of the Association of California School Administrators. He enjoyed gardening, especially his roses. He was a devoted family man and lived his life to help and encourage young people.

JK is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean, of Corvallis; daughters, Linda Phipps of Coupeville, Wash., and Vicki Weibezahn and her husband, Karl, of Corvallis; granddaughters Laurel and Annie Weibezahn, both of Corvallis, and Netra and Leah Phipps, both of Coupeville, Wash.; sister Genevieve Jennings of Stanberry, Mo.; and brother Bill of Los Angeles.

Funeral services will be at

2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, in the Corvallis First United Methodist Church. Mausoleum entombment will follow at Oak Lawn Memorial Park Mausoleum. Memorials may be made to the church in care of the McHenry Funeral Home, 206 N.W. Fifth St., Corvallis, OR 97330.