It is with a heavy heart that we write the final chapter of dad’s story here on earth. After a remarkable 19 months of complete recovery and complete return to his previous state of health we have lost him to his greatest passion, aviation. Our lives were forever changed around 3 PM on May 23^rd when dad’s typical weekend routine of flying, biking, boating and later sitting on the porch smoking a cigar and drinking tequila came to an abrupt halt. He took his stunt airplane out for a quick spin and unfortunately had a plane crash over the lake.  Although we are unsure of the cause, one thing is for sure, the man took tremendous pride in his aviation and was no doubt one of the most skilled pilots you may ever find yourself in the sky with.  In the words of his good friend, he died with his boots on, doing what he loved to do. He excelled near the edge and lived life EXTRA LARGE. We have loved him so hard for the past 19 months, we savored our time and praised every small victory of his and were just amazed by his remarkable progress. He was so proud of himself too. Does it make sense to go through such a traumatic event with the propane explosion with a torturous hospital course to only have 19 months of your life left to live? Not at all… But perhaps we were living on borrowed time and truly learned the importance of really showing our love, admiration and genuine care for him. We didn’t assume he knew… we made sure he knew because we showed him and told him every day and he did the same for us. He was amazed and tremendously proud of his journey and made EVERY single day count. We soaked up that beautiful full faced smile, those big bear hugs, and are so thankful for the time that we had with him. He leaves a big footprint, and we are all so heartbroken. We have attached a copy of his obituary as well as some recent videos from a trauma panel at Swedish Hospital that he filmed. We would love to hear any stories of him from those willing to share. Fly High Foxpop… You will be missed.

Obituary:

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?n=fred-leonard-phillips&pid=198772189&fhid=6593

** see caring bridge gallery for more great photos over the last 18 months

Trauma panel and Swedish Medical Center

 https://vimeo.com/507326666/61691d8e64

 https://vimeo.com/552077886/7b14681fd1