Beyond Rev. Jeannette Phillips’s extraordinary contributions, the presence of an extensive obituary in the New York Times, particularly in the section where a cost applies, caught our attention. A photograph of her and three columns occupied the page. Her odyssey among us was remarkable and will certainly be missed. She died at 90 on September 12, 2023, in Peekskill, N.Y., where she established her enviable reputation. She was surrounded by loved ones.
Phillips was born in Harlem on February 20, 1933, and attended the historic Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Fla. She was an active student at the school and in community organizations, which gave resonance to her invitations to deliver a graduation message: an anti-Korean War speech. It was a harbinger of her future engagements.
On graduation in 1955, Phillips accepted a job at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Montrose, N.Y., in Westchester County. That spurred her interest in and commitment to providing quality health care.
A year later, she married Rev. Howard Phillips, her companion in a long marriage of dedication to upliftment and civil rights. This activity had expanded considerably by 1972 when she was joined by her friends Pearl Woods, Willie Mae Jackson, and Mary Woods and began planning to do something about the disparity of health care in Peekskill.
With her original associates and others, Rev. Phillips co-founded the Peekskill Health Center—now Sun River Health—and one of the largest Federally Qualified Health Center networks in the U.S., providing service for patients across the Hudson Valley, New York City, and Long Island; all told, at nearly 50 sites.
At the beginning of their endeavor, Rev. Phillips told a reporter that they raised money by selling dinners and pies. “We had one particular group, the ‘Soul Sisters’ who baked and sold the pies and cakes. You couldn’t get more grassroots than we were.”
Along with her devotion to the center, she earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from Mercy College and later attended the New York Theological Seminary. She then completed four years of conference studies in the AME Zion Church, where she was ordained as a deacon and then an elder in 1992. She became the pastor of the historic Woodsie AME Zion Church in Stamford, Conn.
In 2015, according to a story in the Examiner News by Rick Pezzullo, the “Sun River Health’s Peekskill health center was renamed the Jeannette J. Phillips Community Health Center with many dignitaries present. She was subsequently honored by the New York State Legislature in the state capitol.
“Phillips was the recipient of numerous other awards and recognitions, including the New York State Governor’s Award for African Americans of Distinction in 1994, the CHCANYS Catherine M. Abate Memorial Award in 2018, and Crain’s Notable Women in Healthcare in 2019. Her most cherished recognitions were the Sojourner Truth Award, which she received in 1994, and the Harriet Tubman Award for her work as the Westchester district president of the Harriet Tubman Home Historical Society.”
At a homegoing celebration on September 21 at the Paramount Hudson Valley in Newburgh, members of her family gathered with a host of wellwishers.
“As a family, we are grateful for her love, her life, and her legacy,” the funeral program noted. “It is rare to witness a living legend who served tirelessly to the very day she passed away while offering words of comfort to her colleagues. We are deeply moved by the outpouring of kindness, compassion, and heartfelt words in remembrance of our beloved Queen. Let us be fueled to carry on the good work of being of service to one another. May her light shine on for years and generations to come.”
Phillips was the proud matriarch of her family, which includes her three daughters and two sons, and more than 100 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. Phillips also shared her love of ministry with her husband of 67 years. Both were revered and sought after throughout the Hudson Valley as innovative and life-changing preachers.
“It is my faith that keeps me grounded,” Phillips often said. “And it is my belief that God equips and strengthens those who are called to serve.”