Obituary of Joseph Wesley Philp

Joseph Wesley "Wes" Philp — loving husband, father, grandfather — passed away on December 31, 2016. He is predeceased by his parents Joseph and Ruth. Wes is survived by his wife, Fran; son, Jay; daughter, Emily; daughter-in-law, Jaime; grandchildren, Cameron and Hailey; stepson, Scott, and Scott’s wife, Lori; and stepdaughter, Christine, and her husband and children, Mike, Catherine, Elizabeth and Nicholas. On December 14, Wes was hit by a car while on his bi-weekly 60-mile bicycle ride and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Wes was a kind, caring man, who loved his family and friends, science, music, bicycling, history, reading, and peanut butter, sometimes in that order. Wes was born February 19, 1944, in Stuart, Florida as the only child to Joseph and Ruth Philp. Wes loved electronics and music. When he was 4 years old, Wes attached a wagon to the back of his tricycle and would put a radio or sometimes a phonograph in it. As he rode that tricycle up and down the sidewalk, his favorite music would play behind him. As an older child, he wired his parent’s home for speakers, which he built himself. He installed one of the speakers behind the family’s refrigerator. Using a microphone, he startled his mother when she opened the refrigerator door and the appliance spoke to her. Wes started a lawn mowing service, which had several homes as regular customers, until he was old enough to work at Kindred’s grocery store as a sacker. Always a hard worker and self-starter, he worked for Kindred’s until he graduated high school. Wes attended the University of Florida in Gainesville. He paid for most of his college expenses with the money he saved and scholarships. He earned a master’s degree in physics from the University at age 21, and stayed at UF to complete a doctorate degree in physics at age 24. While in graduate school, he met Lyla Stanford. They married in 1967. In June 1969, Wes and Lyla moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Wes’s first job after college was at the Night Vision Lab in Ft. Belvoir, where he helped design night vision technology. After three years, Wes wanted something more challenging and left to go join Ensco, a small technology company in Springfield. This job required a lot of overtime, hard work, and creativity. He always said that job was one of his favorites. His son, Jay, was born in 1971, and soon afterward the family bought their first house in Woodbridge, Virginia. Their daughter, Emily, was born in 1974. Wes never accustomed to the Virginia winters (before moving to Virginia, he thought Gainesville, Florida, was the coldest place on earth). The second winter in their home, he started to cut down several trees that had looked dead. He had to be convinced that the trees were merely deciduous. Since Wes always missed Florida, he found a job with Harris Corporation, and the family moved to Indialantic in November 1982. He has since vowed repeatedly never to move north of Cocoa. Later, Wes joined a joint venture between Harris and General Electric, and later General Electric alone, to develop a system to track and navigate trains and to maximize the utility of track systems. During this time, Wes learned the seemingly-foreign language of trains and attempted, without success, to teach it to those around him. After Wes and Lyla divorced in 1985, they remained friends. We met Fran Taranovich through activities of the band parents of the Melbourne High School band program. On April 9, 1988 Wes and Fran were married. Through the following 28 years, they enjoyed traveling around the world, with a honeymoon canoe trip down the Peace River in Florida, cruises to Alaska and the Mediterranean, European river trips, and most recently an epic vacation in China. Fran introduced Wes to pop music concerts (such as Pink Floyd, Moody Blues, Pat Metheny and the Florida Folk Festival). Fran also introduced Wes to the Florida Trail Association, for which he volunteered his time maintaining trails. They enjoyed camping, geo-caching and hiking in Florida and many other states, so long as the weather stayed warm. If the weather turned cold, Wes would threaten to pack up and head home to Florida’s sunny skies. Wes was an avid bicyclist his entire life. Wes rode his bicycle almost every day and his rides ranged from 7 miles to over 60 miles. At times, he wore an old sock as a sweatband. He biked while battling a case of pneumonia. At one time, he broke his collarbone in a bike crash. Florida was the perfect state for Wes. He once posted on Facebook, "Ho hum, another day of perfect bike riding weather." However, he also enjoyed bicycling along the car-free recreation paths in and around Denver, Colorado. Many of his Facebook posts described his rides – the distance he had ridden, the sights and people he encountered, the weather, and his explorations. Wes read constantly. He enjoyed books on science, history (especially the history of Martin and Brevard Counties in Florida) and science fiction. After a morning’s bike ride, he’d often sit in the sun with his Kindle and a selection of books. He napped almost as often as he read. When he woke, he’d finish reading, and then create a book cover in a CD case for his bookcase, so that he’d have a tangible reminder of what he’d read. Wes has been an enthusiastic volunteer for SHINE since 2012, trying to help the elderly with Medicare and insurance information. He also worked for President Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, spending days on a phone bank convincing voters to support progressive policies. He always loved music. He played trumpet and trombone in high school, guitar as a young married man, the trumpet and cornet again later in life, and finally an electronic wind instrument. He also sang baritone and bass with the Indialantic Chamber Singers for many seasons. In 2015, he surprised his family and friends by shaving off the mustache he had sported since the 1960s, nearly causing his children to faint. Wes’s mustache drew commentary from time to time, and even his own father thought it should be shaved off, or perhaps just dyed, since it had greyed before the hair on his head and no longer matched. As far as his children knew, Wes never dyed it. A celebration of Wes’s life will be held on Thursday, January 5, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Advent (Grace) Lutheran Church, 1805 Oak Street, Melbourne Beach, Florida. Anyone wishing to share thoughts or stories with the whole gathering will have an opportunity to do so starting at 5:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, Wes would have appreciated donations being made in his name to National Public Radio, of which he was an enthusiastic supporter and listener.