Teacher, volunteer, church administrator

Phillips “Phil” Lacy, died November 2 at the age of 76.

Born February 11, 1945, Phil was 16 years old when he moved to Claremont in 1961 with his parents Milo and Mary-Paul Lacy, brother Stewart, and sister Mary-Ellis. He attended Claremont High, played on the basketball team, participated in the Claremont Presbyterian Church youth group, and graduated in 1963.

Friends remember the Lacy’s large brown shingle house at the corner of Indian Hill and Seventh Street as a place to gather on the Fourth of July for homemade lemonade squeezed from backyard lemon trees, hand cranked vanilla ice cream using ice from the ice house on First Street, and brownies brought by friends. Summer suppers were taken on the large front porch where the family would hail passersby, hear the honks of horns as friends drove past, and sometimes played croquet until dusk. Claremont always held a special place in his heart. His parents lived in that home until 1996.

He attended Chaffey College for one year, then graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, in 1967 with a degree in political science. He served in the Peace Corps in Western Samoa, earned a master’s degree in education, taught in the Compton Unified School District and for the Department of the Army in Germany. While teaching the children of army personnel, he came home to marry Melinda Anderson. The newlyweds then returned to Germany for two years.

After returning to the United States he earned a master’s of international management degree at the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Arizona. In 1976 he began working for Union Carbide, first in Long Beach, then New York City, and then in Houston, Texas. In 1983, he started his career in church business administration, where over the years he served in Episcopal, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Texas.

He had a lifelong passion for service. As a member of Grace Presbyterian Church Houston, he participated in more than a dozen mission trips with his sons to the Appalachian Mountains and Mexico during their youth and college years. After retiring in Lubbock in 2011 he was an active volunteer at the South Plains Food Bank and the First United Methodist Church soup kitchen, receiving the Hunger Hero of the Year Award for his work. In 2015 the couple moved to Georgetown, Texas and he began volunteering in the food pantry at The Caring Place.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Melinda Anderson Lacy; son Brian and daughter-in-law C.J. of Cullman, Alabama; son Andrew and daughter-in-law Erin of Pinehurst, Texas; and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister Mary-Ellis Adams of Berkeley, California. He was predeceased by his parents and brother.

Donations may be made in Phil’s name to the food pantry at The Caring Place at https://www.caringplacetx.org/how-to-help/give/donate-online.html, or by check to 2000 Railroad Ave., Georgetown, TX 78626.