Virginia Phillips Dyess

Virginia Phillips Dyess, beloved mother and Granny, was born November 1, 1933, in Dallas County, Texas and passed away peacefully on the morning of Sept. 8, 2022. She was born to J.R. and Vera Phillips, the second child to a family of four and she was the only girl. Growing up, she lived on a small farm in South Dallas County and was reared in a Baptist Church. She attended school at Hutchins Elementary in Hutchins, Texas and she graduated in 1951 from Wilmer Hutchins High School. Virginia was very active in high school in many clubs and organizations including the Red Cross, librarian, FGHA and an office worker. She also was active in athletics as a basketball player for four years and was captain for three as well as the fastest runner in track. She was also a cheerleader for three years where her school spirit could be found on the court and on the sidelines. Her personality made her a high school favorite and during her freshman year, she was voted the Most Popular Girl. Her sophomore year, she was voted as the FFA Sweetheart and class officer. During her junior year, Virginia was voted Football Sweetheart and Miss Television. Her senior year, she was voted by the high school as Most Popular Girl. After graduation, Virginia went to work for AT&T. She worked as a teletypist and marked maps for phone lines to be laid in Dallas. As a teletypist, her name was well recognized in the work force as a hard and very precise worker and ticker-tape reader. In her free time, she enjoyed playing softball for a Dallas team for two years. In 1952, Virginia married her high school sweetheart, James Earl Dyess, and they started a family in Hutchins, Texas. After her daughter, Karen, was born, she went to work for EMCO oil equipment company in their Dallas office as a teletypist and a substitute receptionist for the president of EMCO. After her son, Michael, was born, she decided to leave the workforce to stay at home, raising her family. After a few years, Pollock Paper Company of Dallas called and asked Virginia to begin working for them until she and James Earl bought an 80-acre farm in 1959 that spanned over three counties: Kaufman County, Van Zandt County and Hunt County. When the Sabine River Authority created the Iron Bridge Dam, Lake Tawakoni was formed and it adjoined their property making their idyllic farm even more beautiful. Their children started school in Quinlan and Virginia was very active in school activities. She served as PTA president for two years and on the basketball, football, and school carnival committees. She helped in the office or anywhere they needed her and her efficiency and attention to detail made her an asset to all of the school’s administrative and student activities. Her children, Karen and Michael, were her life. She was so proud of them. She enjoyed having her family to her home for Christmas and Thanksgiving dinner where she loved to cook and entertain making memories that are still cherished to this day. They had many friends and spent most of their weekends with them playing poker and dominos, games that were filled with fun competition and even more fun conversations! James Earl was a superintendent for a Dallas construction company that kept him occupied with many projects. After his retirement, they grew apart and divorced in 1993, but they remained close until James Earl’s passing in 2011. After their separation, Virginia lived in her family homeplace on Lake Whitney for a bit. In 1994, she moved back to Terrell and bought her own home. Never one to not work, she soon found employment at Le Dump and Lady Beatrick Tea room until it closed in 1997. Virginia always had an eye for collectibles and antiques and so, also in 1997, she began working with Billie Carr at Antique Row in Forney for many years. She then worked as a manager for Texas Star Antique for five days a week and the other two days she worked at Carrs Marketplace until they closed in 2000. Virginia also worked for Fair Park at First Monday in Canton one weekend every month until she retired. In 2006, she went to work for Max Slayton at Anderson Clayton Bros. Funeral Home helping with funerals, visitations, receptionist duties and assisting however she could during unimaginable times of grief for the families Max was called to serve. When Max opened his own funeral home in 2015, Virginia was the first person he called to “come help”! Hers was the first caring smile that families saw at the front door and her ability to make every visitor and attendee feel welcome and at ease was a unique, and very well known, part of how she served others during the toughest times of loss. Virginia knew everyone and if there was a time that Max couldn’t place a name or a family/business relationship, his first call or text was to Virginia to check his memory so he could keep it all straight! She had the incredible ability to remember names, dates, where people lived and who had passed on and her encyclopedic knowledge of Kaufman, Hunt and Van Zandt County residents was legendary. One of Virginia’s proudest accomplishments was going back to work at the age of 60 to make a good life for herself. She always said that she met many great people and made many lifelong friends at every part of her life and she felt so blessed with the many folks that she called her friends. Virginia enjoyed traveling and has visited all the states except for North and South Dakota. She cruised to Alaska and all five Hawaiian Islands and Mexico and has been to Niagara Falls twice. In her free time when she wasn’t traveling, she enjoyed reading, fishing, and playing the slots at casinos. She loved the Hill Country and loved to hike. Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Vera Phillips, her brothers, Jimmie and Jerry Phillips. Virginia is survived by her two children: her daughter, Karen McSpadden and her son, Michael Dyess and his wife, Mitzi; grandchildren: Jon Dyess and his wife Sarah, Jamie Lee, Amanda Morrison and husband, Travis, Brandi Howie and her husband Phillip, and Cody Dyess and his wife Megan; 12 great grandchildren: Cooper Dyess, Caroline Dyess, Colton Howell, Landen Lee and wife, Anna Marie , Kamie Lee, Blane Lee, Kaylee Howie, Luke Scoggins, Paisley Scoggins, Cannon Dyess, Cole Dyess and Carlie Dyess, all of whom Virginia loved so much as well as her beloved "baby" brother, Freddie "Butch" Phillips and his wife, Kris of Wyoming. She is also survived many nieces and nephews and a sister-in-law, Jaynie Phillips along with a host of other extended family, countless friends and her cherished family at Max Slayton Funerals and Cremations. “My friends that came to Max Slayton Funerals are wonderful. Even though I was there during sad times, those friends made a place in their heart for me. I am a family person- what more can be said? I love my brothers, dearly. My children, motherly. My grandchildren, proudly. My great-grandchildren, joy by all means. My friends, thank you fully.” -Virginia Funeral service will be at 10:00am, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022 at Max Slayton Funeral Chapel with interment to follow at Highland Memorial Gardens. Virginia will lie in state at the chapel on Monday beginning at 1:00 p.m. and her family will be at the funeral home at 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to receive friends.

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Virginia Phillips Dyess

November 1, 1933 - September 8, 2022