Frank Price (FP) Phillips Sr. Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Frank Price Phillips Sr. (FP) was born on May 20, 1933 in Kossuth, MS and passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday evening December 19, 2021. Frank was the youngest of 6 children born to William Thomas Phillips and Ollie Fare Phillips. He is preceded in death by his beautiful wife of 58 years, Claudette Bridges Phillips - also his Sister Lotta Phillips Hopkins and 4 Brothers, Harry K Phillips, Thomas Hal Phillips, Rubel Lex Phillips Sr. and William Maurice Phillips Sr. Frank grew up on the family farm in rural Alcorn County, MS and attended Alcorn County Agricultural High School until 1949 when he married Claudette Bridges. He drove a bob-truck for his Uncle and his Uncle would buy a load of lumber from a local sawmill and he would drive it to Florida and sell it to construction companies there because he could get triple the price for the lumber in Florida plus he could sell the whole load to one customer and then drive back to Mississippi empty. On one of those long drives back he saw men loading water-melons in a local farmers field onto flatbed trucks, he thought to himself, I bet I could buy some of those watermelons and sell them on the side of the road back home and make some money. So he stopped and asked the farmer how much do you want for those melons? “10 cents apiece but you’ve got to load them yourself “ said the farmer, so FP checked in his wallet and calculated how much money he needed for fuel and expenses for the drive back and bought 50 watermelons and sold them on the side of the road at home for 75 cents apiece. The next week he bought 150, then the week after that 300, 500 and he soon learned that he couldn’t sell all of the melons on the side of the road so he took to the Farmers market in Memphis where he could easily sell them. One day while he was at the farmers market he met a buyer for A & P Grocery and the buyer told him that he would buy all of his melons if FP would deliver them to his 7 grocery stores throughout Memphis and he did. It wasn’t long until FP bought his on truck, then a big truck and another, soon he was running 10 tractor trailers all over the country hauling produce for A & P Grocery. In 1961 he purchased Builders Transportation Company from a friend of his, Melvern Rutherford, whom he shared an office building with. Builders was a small flatbed trucking company that transported concrete pipe and steel locally around Memphis. Over time he gradually shut his produce business down and moved the pro-duce trucks over to Builders flatbed business. Over time Builders grew to operate over 500 trucks and had authority to operate in the 48 continental United States. FP sold Builders in 2018 to a publicly traded company and retired from the transportation industry. He was once asked what was the secret to his good fortune and success, he thought for a minute and replied to the gentleman, “Well, it took a lot of hard work and a lot of luck but the key was to hire the best people in the industry and treat them well.” Well, FP must have been right about that because he truly lived the American Dream and was successful in business and in life. He was a genuine character and could tell humorous stories for hours, he was a true family man and had all of his children work in the business with him and will be remembered for his loyalty, work ethic and love for others. FP leaves 5 children, Deborah Phillips Cowan, Frank P. Phillips Jr, John P. Phillips Sr, Gene B. Phillips Sr and Allison P. Greenfield. He also leaves 17 Grandchildren and 20 Great Grandchildren. Pall Bearers will be his Grandsons; Frank Phillips III, John Phillips Jr, James Phillips, Jesse Phillips, Bridges Phillips, Bentley Green-field, Nathaniel Greenfield and an Honorary Pall Bearer Phillip Cowan. The family will receive relatives and friends on Monday, December 27 at 8:30 a.m. with a funeral service to follow at 10:00 a.m. all in the Riverside Chapel of Memorial Park Funeral Home. Interment to follow at Memorial Park Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the Family asks that you consider donating to St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital at the link below. Gift Funds: FP Memorial Fund Gift Funds for St. Jude https://fundraising.stjude.org/site/TR/GiftFunds/GiftFunds?px=7333353&pg=personal&fr_id=39300 Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave, Memphis, TN, 38119. (901) 767-8930. Click the link below to view the service online. http://webcast.funeralvue.com/events/viewer/65881/hash:8011BEEEEEB579C5

Frank Price (FP) Phillips Sr.

May 20, 1933 - December 19, 2021