I met Don in Indianapolis in 1995 while covering the NTSB public hearings on the crash of American Eagle 4184. It was one of those remarkable āwhat a small world we live inā events.
After a long day of hearings and filing our stories, Do, Lynn Lunsford then of the Dallas Morning News and Matt Wald of the NYT went to dinner together. I knew Lynn well from our days together at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (I covered airlines, he covered FAA and flight safety so we worked together an awful lot). I didnāt know Matt or Don until that day. While driving to dinner conversation got around to whether any of us had ever been to Indianapolis before, and to the famous 500 Inday car race there. I piped up and said no, but that Iād been to Talladega, Ala., home of a famous NASCAR 500 mile race. Don replied that he was from Talladega (which is about 45 miles outside Birmingham). What a coincidence, I said, adding that my wife had grown up in Talladega, tooā¦. But really from a small community at the edge of Talladega called āBemistonā (and old-style factory-own owned by the Bemis corporation, that operated a burlap bag-making factory there before closing and selling the houses to its former employees including Donās father and my wifeās father). Don, came back, noting that his mother was the principal of the elementary school in Bemiston. I replied āthat means that your Mom was āMa-cilleā with Don chiming in on the word āMa-cille.ā That was her nickname (her real name was Lucille but everybody called her Ma-cille, as in Ma, a common southernism for Mom or Mother, with the back half of Lucille merged into a single word that took about 3 seconds to say when dragged out appropriately). Of course, by the time the words Talladega and Bemiston had come into the conversation, he and I had both slipped into our best deep Alabama drawls (his was real, mine was an imitation of my wifeās accent). Lynn, a Texan with the natural ability to understand a cousin-like Southern accent, was laughing hard at us. Matt, a died-in-the-wool New Yorker with his own kind of thick, almost unintelligible (to us) accent was bewildered by whatever strange dialect it was that Don and I were using. As it turned out, not only had Donās mom been my wifeās principal, sheād taught my wifeās early Sunday School classes at the little Baptist church in the āvillage,ā as they called it. And sheād been one of the church ladies who hosted my wifeās wedding shower at that little church. And sheād been nice enough to pack a box full of wedding cake, nuts, treats and other snacks for us to eat in the car as we drove over to Atlanta that evening after the wedding reception. Don and I spent much of that evening in Indy swapping Talladega and Alabama stories (he was an Auburn guy, my wife a āBamaā grad and worshipper of Saint Bear Bryant, so there was plenty to talk about). Turns out that he was about 12 years older than my wife, but their families only lived about two blocks from each other and Ma-cille and my mother-in-law were close friends. And my wife new his younger sister quite well. Thanks, Doug, or whoever first posted this death notice. Dan Reed From: Doug Church via Mifnet <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 11:36 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Doug Church <[email protected]> Subject: [Mifnet š° 74378] RIP Don Phillips I was saddened to learn that Don Phillips passed away on Sept. 23. He was 83. While Don's passion was trains, and his reporting on the rail industry was legendary and extraordinary, he also covered aviation during his time on the transportation beat at The Washington Post. That's where I got to work with him on many occasions in my role at the time as the media relations contact at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. As a former journalist-turned PR professional, I learned a great deal from many transportation and aviation journalists in my early years at NATCA (starting in 2000). Don was incredibly professional, fair, gracious, pleasant, and generous with his knowledge and time. I treasured the opportunities I got to talk with him and it was always a source of pride to be called upon to help him gather information as a source for his reporting. Here is a nice bio that was published by Trains magazine/trains.com <http://trains.com> : https://www.trains.com/pro/freight/class-i/columnist-author-don-phillips-dies/ I invite my fellow Mifnetters to share their recollections of Don. -Doug Church
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revised: 20250507 You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, please know that it would be greatly appreciated: https://wardell.us/url/mifbit All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not a right. 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the author. 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other Mifnet members. * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: https://www.mifnet.com/ * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: https://lists.mifnet.com/ OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=leave * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: [email protected] * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: [email protected] * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all list traffic into 1-3 messages daily. See instructions at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * Manage your personal Mifnet SUBSCRIPTION at: https://lists.mifnet.com/ * For a list of all available Mifnet commands, SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=help * View The Mifnet LIST POLICIES and PRIVACY POLICY at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/policies * View instructions for Mifnet DELIVERY PROBLEMS at: https://mifnet.com/index.php/delivery-problems * View The Mifnet LIST ARCHIVE at: https://lists.mifnet.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/
