Westhaven Memorial Funeral Home, Inc. | MS

Obituary For Mercedes E Phipps

Funeral services will be Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 11:00 a.m., Pearl Street A.M.E. Church, 2519 Robinson Street, Jackson, MS 39209 with burial in Garden Memorial Park, 8001 Highway 49, Jackson, MS 39209.

Mercedes Eustaquio Phipps was born April 14, 1939, the twelfth child born in Las Pascualas, Dominican Republic to Felipe Eustaquio and Adelaida (Prieta)Viuda Salomé Eustaquio.

Mercedes’ biological parents allowed another couple, Wesley and María (Sesé) Barrett, who were without a child, to raise her. Though fortunate to be shared with two sets of loving parents, Mercedes did not understand why she was the only one of the twelve children to be given away. She could not possibly see the plan that God was weaving for her life. Being raised by the Barretts, (a bilingual Christian couple) set her life on a path preparing her for marriage, ministry, and business.

The Barretts provided Mercedes with the best education which included voice, music, French, English and Spanish lessons. They managed a small store where she learned money management and bookkeeping alongside her dad. These skills eventually led to great jobs as a church secretary, international telephone operator, travel agent secretary, and linguist.

On December 17, 1955 Mercedes married A.M.E minister, Benjamin Phipps. They were both sponsored by the A.M.E. church in order to pursue their education in the United States. The timing was nothing short of divine intervention as the Dominican Republic had been thrown into civil unrest due to the assassination of its president. In 1963 they were able to leave with their children, and begin a new life in the United States. Once here, Mercedes obtained her degree in education from Jackson College (formerly Campbell College and presently Jackson State University). Later she gained employment at the school as a lab assistant and went on to become a Spanish instructor. She served as a faculty advisor for Alpha Mu Gamma National Foreign Language Society, exposing students to a myriad of foreign cultures through events and trips abroad. After her retirement she continued to teach as an adjunct instructor at JSU and Hinds Community College. Mercedes supported her husband as he pastored numerous Mississippi A.M.E. churches. However, one church captured her heart and she, with her husband’s blessing, joined the Pearl Street A.M.E. Church family where she sang in the choir and served as a missionary.

Mercedes and Benjamin were givers. They opened their hearts, home and wallets to those in need. During the holidays college students who could not travel to be with their own families stayed with the Phipps. The Phipps loved seeing after the elderly, and made sure their girls learned to serve by cooking, cleaning and providing companionship for many senior friends. Summer vacations to the Dominican Republic (the D.R.) could easily be classified as missionary trips. The Phipps always gave monetary gifts to churches and those in need. The family traveled with suitcases and boxes filled with clothing and other goods to be distributed to family, friends, and people they’d meet during their trips. Mercedes spent the year judiciously collecting the wares, while Benjamin’s job was to use his scientific packing method to assure everything made it through customs without delay. They were truly a pair, never empty-handed, always seemingly ready to give, as though that was their love offering to God. Mercedes dutifully went back home to the D.R. every year, and if someone wanted the shoes on her feet, or the clothes on her back, she gave willingly, wholeheartedly, joyously. She was the first of her clan to leave their island home for the U.S., each year returning to the D.R., not only with material wares, but with stories about life in the U.S. Her family gathered around, latching onto every word she spoke, as though she was weaving fantastic tales of far-away lands and unimaginable adventures. She was the ‘bell of the ball’, in their eyes. However, everything she did was done humbly from the heart. She was Mercedes, and all who knew her, loved her. Mercedes was preceded in death by both sets of parents, her husband, all her siblings: Pijin, Amalia, Checho, Ramón (Monsito), Chichi, Tomás (Tutum), Eusebio (Gago), Fernanda (Carmela), Evarito, Domingo (Jun), and Anjito., a son-in-law, Willie Morrow and one grandson, Isaias Shepard.

She leaves her four daughters, Uesky (Rickey) Daniel, Esther (Charles) Malone, Noreem (Luther) Wallace, Doris (Cesario) Shepard, grandchildren Andrea (Justin) Anderson, Charles Malone II, Bethany Daniel, Chelsea (John) Eades, Celeste (Austin) Brown, Madison Morrow, Taylor Morrow, Luther Wallace, Jr., Lauren Gray Wallace, Joel Shepard, Otoniel Shepard, great-grandchildren, Jasmine Anderson, Ava Anderson, O’Neal Anderson, and other loving family members, including half-brother Morris Barrett (adopted son of Wesley & Sesé).

Guest Book

To Uesky, Rickey and Family, We were so saddened to read about your (temporary) loss, but we are happy for the souls in Heaven that get to welcome Mrs. Phipps to an eternal Christian community. What a wonderful legacy she leaves on earth in the lives of her children and grand children and great-grands! You are all blessed and will continue to bless others as her grace perpetuates through you. She may even be part of your Heavenly-hugging welcoming committee some day. Meanwhile, our most sincere condolences as you miss her. In Christ’s love and with ours, Jack and Dotti Vance

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Our staff will continue to keep your family in our prayers. We thank you for allowing us to serve your family.

- Westhaven Memorial Funeral Home, Inc.