Celeste - Richard Lawrence Phillips, 82, of Celeste, passed away on Thursday, July 9, 2026 in Greenville, Texas.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 16 at Coker-Mathews Funeral Home Chapel. Visitation will be 9:30 a.m. until service time. Interment will be in Hogeye Cemetery in Celeste, Texas.

Richard was born on May 26, 1944 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Archie Phillips and Myrtle Dickerson. He married Joyce Jean Webb on Aug. 6, 1964 in Kilgore, Texas.

Richard graduated from Sabine High School. After high school, he worked for Shell Pipeline and then studied electronics at Kilgore College. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1964.

After ending his tour with the Air Force, he worked for Burroughs, then he went to work at Melton Service and Retired from B & B Service as a banking technology expert.

He is survived by his son, Jeffery Phillips and wife, Gina; daughter-in-law, Marsha Phillips; grandchildren, Tyler Phillips, Kolton Phillips and wife, Cyan, Allen Lyday, Miranda Smith and husband, Alec, Kaycie Johnson and husband, Kyle, Ivy Phillips, Ty Brumfield and wife, Alicia, and Ryan Brumfield and wife, Jessica; and sixteen great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his son, Todd Allen Phillips and wife, Joyce Jean Phillips, and his parents.