Matthew Charles Phillips

Matthew Charles Phillips left us Sunday night after celebrating his sixteenth birthday just last week. He spent his life making other people smile, as well as making himself laugh with his own jokes. Matt was born in Indiana, spent three years in Oklahoma, and moved to Abilene in 2004. He excelled at academics, earning the first letter jacket ever awarded at Abilene's Academy of Technology, Engineering, Math and Science High School, and serving as president of the school's robotics club. In 2007 he competed at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.; his ESPN interview is on Youtube. He played drums in the Wylie Junior High band and loved 80's rock. He planned to study Engineering in college. Matt was a member of Southern Hills Church of Christ. Despite more than a dozen major surgeries, countless fractures and sprains, and an entire summer in bed with a back infection, Matt refused to let life dictate terms to him. He took each day as a gift and felt his personal mission was to make the day enjoyable for himself and others. He blessed more lives in sixteen years than most people do in 80, and he will be warmly remembered and deeply missed. Matt is survived by his parents, Mark and Laura (Cleek) Phillips, and sister, Allison Phillips all of Abilene; grandparents, Herman and Carla Phillips of Richardson, and Charles and Joy Cleek of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; great-grandmother, Lee Lee Stovall, formerly of Abilene; and several aunts, uncles and cousins. A memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at Hillcrest Church of Christ with Stephen Corbett, Ed Emerson, and Matt Morgan officiating, directed by The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. His family would appreciate you sharing your "Matt stories" with them by email or Facebook. Memorial gifts may be made to the ATEMS Robotics Booster Club, c/o Ed Emerson, 3766 Woodridge Dr., Abilene, TX, 79605.