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Dr. Robert Phillips "Rededicated" to College of Veterinary Medicine Laboratories By Dan Knupp
The K-State College of Veterinary medicine saw many graduates enter the armed services during World War II. Immediately after, there was an influx of veterans back from the war entering school on the GI Bill. For the college, this was a time of growth, high standards and more responsibility for the nation’s animal and human welfare that continues today.
With Opal working, help from the GI Bill, and his dedication to studies, Phillips received his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from K-State in 1951. They purchased interest in a rural practice in Fergus Falls, Minn., but stayed up north for only a year and a half before returning to Kansas. They moved to Oberlin, Kan., close to Opal’s hometown of St. Francis, and established a mostly large animal practice where they remained from 1953 to 1969. Aware of the great changes in his profession, Phillips responded to an urge to further his education and scored well on a graduate record exam in Denver. He was accepted at several schools and chose to attend the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. Graduating with a doctorate in medical microbiology during a down economy in 1972, he took a position with Jen-Sal Laboratories in Kansas City where he developed a trivalent equine encephalomyelitis vaccine and supervised many vaccine testing projects. In 1975 Phillips was recommended for a virology position in the diagnostic lab at the College of Veterinary Medicine. At the time, the diagnostic department didn’t have a virus lab. Phillips, Dr. Minocha of the department and Dr. Consigli of the department of biology were instrumental in getting the new virus lab up and running. In 1981 Phillips assumed supervision of the rabies laboratory. Phillips developed many of the lab’s virus isolation procedures and serological tests still in use today. “My 18 years as a practitioner was very helpful in running the lab,” he said. “The lab is closely involved in the livestock industry and my experience gave me practical insight to the work at hand.” Phillips was a teacher with a clear and concise style, always having time for students needing individual help. He supported many master's and doctoral students during his tenure. Phillips officially retired from the college in August of 1994, becoming a very active professor emeritus. In January of 2000, the director of the rabies laboratory left on a sabbatical. As a CLIA licensed lab, the requirements for a replacement director are specific and uncommon. Without a qualified director, the high revenue generating lab was at risk of closing. The difficulty in recruiting a director with rabies lab experience spurred Phillips to leave retirement to re-assume directorship of the lab. The one-year commitment quietly stretched to two and a half years until a replacement was trained. Professionally, Phillips authored and co-authored numerous articles on microbiology and has been a member of or chaired several committees on large-animal diseases. He was awarded the prestigious E. Walter Morrison Award by the K-State Student Foundation in 2002. Robert and Opal raised four children, Thomas, Jeffrey, Mary and Paul, and have six grandchildren. They are active members and volunteers with First Baptist Church in Manhattan. They deliver Meals on Wheels and are longtime hospice volunteers. “Someone has to give a caregiver a day off--we enjoy helping out,” Phillips said. The couple never misses a basketball or football game, “both women’s and men’s games,” Opal said. They own acreage off of McDowell Creek Road where Robert enjoys cutting firewood for the fireplace in the family room. During the summer he plays golf with friends Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Sundays he plays with his son, Jeff--and walks it, helping him keep in good shape. During his career, Phillips would say, “This is a continual education process.” In retirement he and his wife Opal have continued their educational process with that same focus and clarity that lead them to Manhattan and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Photo of Dr Robert Phillips and wife Opal is courtesy of K-State College of Veterinary Medicine. Fall 2004 |
Dr.
Robert Phillips was born in 1924 in Saskatchewan, Canada. When his railroader
father, Hubert, suffered a work accident, Robert moved with his parents
back to their home in Elk County, Kan., to allow his father time to convalesce.
After a few years in rural Elk County, the family moved to Wichita where
Phillips graduated from East High School in 1942. He worked in the Wichita
defense plants and attended Wichita’s Friends University before enlisting
in the U.S. Army. In 1944 he met his future wife, Opal Brown, in Wichita,
when as a crew chief on a C-47, he returned to Kansas from a North Carolina
training base to retrieve glider towropes. During the two-day layover,
he asked a girl friend in Wichita to find a date for a buddy who had flown
back with him. That date was Opal. There was quite a spark between Robert
and Opal. After serving in Europe as an air corps mechanic and assistant
crew chief, Phillips returned to Kansas at the end of the war to promptly
call Opal. They started dating and were married six months later.