Mrs. Beulah Mae Cheek Phillips

On December 21, 2014, in Boone, North Carolina, Beulah Mae Cheek Phillips, age 100, departed this life after a period of decline. Beulah lived a long and full life. She enjoyed seeing her friends and family, she loved flowers, she fed birds and stray animals, she helped her neighbors and her family in times of need, and she was renowned for her incomparable skill in preparing and presenting food. Beulah was admired by hosts of friends and by her family for her endearing qualities of wisdom, infectious laughter, intelligence, loyalty, and for her affection and devotion to those she loved. Never one to turn her back on suffering, Beulah, at the age of 91, asked to go shopping in a store near her home in Ashe County, where she bought a cart overflowing with canned goods and supplies to send to the victims of Katrina.
Beulah was born in Ashe County on September 3, 1914, one of the children of the late Heggie and Anna Cheek of the Pine Swamp community, where Beulah spent her childhood in the company of her brothers Carl, Conley, and Ford and her sisters Blanch and foster sister Sylvia. Two younger brothers, James and Joseph, died in infancy. Except for a short period of residence in Caldwell County, Beulah lived most of her life in Ashe and Watauga counties, although she enjoyed brief periods of residence in Baltimore, Maryland and in Miami, Florida.
Beulah lived a life of service to her family and friends and was beloved for her kindness and willingness to give of herself to those around her. She was surrounded by love and constant caring attention to the end by Harry Summers, who acted as her power of attorney, his wife, Ima Dean, and Mary Etta Moretz. Her niece Joyce Church Sechrest gave her great assistance over the years as did her other nieces and nephews. She was attended without cessation in her last hours by her nephew Royce Church, his sisters Janice Church Kimbro and Myrtle Church Herring, friend Kathy Kerley, and by the prayers of her son and grandchildren.
Beulah was the beloved wife of the late Charles Emmett Phillips, the devoted mother of her beloved son Charles Phillips (Teresa) of Virginia Beach, Virginia, who survives her; grandmother of grandsons Shawn Phillips (Carter) of Richmond, Virginia and Jason Phillips of Virginia Beach, Virginia; granddaughters Christy Phillips Lester (Dean) and Kim Phillips Conell (Matt), also of Virginia Beach. She is also survived by four great grandsons and two great granddaughters and numerous nieces and nephews; her sister Sylvia Triplett of Granite Falls, North Carolina; and her four surrogate children, Jane Moretz Edmisten of Washington, DC, Ralph Dale Moretz, Jr. of Jackson, Michigan, Mary Etta Moretz of Boone, North Carolina, and Eddie T. Moretz (Judy) of Deep Gap, North Carolina and their children and grandchildren; and by a host of friends and admirers.
Services will be held at Old Fields Baptist Church, 1964 Conley Cheek Road, Fleetwood, North Carolina 28626 on Saturday, December 27, 2014, with visitation from 1:00P.M. to 3:00P.M., service at 3:00P.M., Pastor Jack Miller, presiding. Interment will be in the church cemetery following the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made to The Gideons International, PO Box 1014, Jefferson, NC 28640.

Cemetery Details