A Celebration of Life Service for Mrs. Phyllis Wingo (1937-2025):
Apr. 7, 2025
When my two youngest girls were barely old enough to stand on their own two feet, they began, what would become a long career in dance. Around the ages of 7 and 8 years old, they entered the world of competition dance and became members of the competition dance team at their dance studio.
I was ignorant and naive about this new world. Now, I know better, and try my hardest to avoid any type of thing called a dance competition. I don’t have time to elaborate, but the best description I could provide you would be a combination of the Bill Murray movie, Groundhog Day and artistic purgatory.
But, out of my ignorance and the fact that my two girls were the cutest to ever don a dance uniform, I attended their first dance competition.
After A LOT of dances, it came time for the presentation of awards. Me sitting in my seat nervously wondering how they are gonna tell the rest of these little girls that they aren’t as good or as cute as my two girls. Now, I’m completely ignorant of how the award process worked. The host began calling out the girls by name and announcing their adjudicated score…
Mary Parker…gold! (Little Mary runs to the host, receives her medal and is completely elated.)
Emmie Roberts…gold! (Little Emmie bounces over to the host and receives her award.)
Hayden Smith…gold! (Hayden repeats the same reaction and is so excited to receive the award of gold.)
Now, I’m really nervous! Gold is the best you can do, right? I’ve seen the Olympics, I was a fierce competitor at Field Day at my school…The award process is and has always been, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd…Gold, silver, and bronze. What if my girls only get a silver, they would be crushed. What if they got a bronze?! I’d be embarrassed to walk out of the conference center with them. I would have to walk behind them and pretend that they weren’t my kids.
They call the next little girl…Susie Miller…HIGH GOLD! She’s ecstatic! And I’m like high gold? What’s that? I thought gold was the best. Apparently not.
They call the next girl…HIGH GOLD! She’s happy. I’m confused, and now all the other little girls who used to feel good about themselves for receiving a gold and realizing, that what they just received was a very fancy way of saying, “You just did OK. Your performance was not as good as you thought.” They’re holding up their medals and looking at the host and their moms like, “Can you believe this?” They’re getting upset. Tears are beginning to fall. Literal tears. They know they’ve just been handed a shiny piece of garbage.
The awards continue, they call more girls….”Gold! High Gold! Gold! High Gold!” The mood on the stage has turned. The High Gold girls are really glad because they know they’re the best. The Gold girls are all begrudgingly receiving their medals.
And then…they call the next girl. April Malone…”Platinum!!!!” She can’t contain herself! A few minutes ago, gold was the best…it was first place. Then a minute ago we discovered a new award. High Gold…first first! And now there’s platinum?!! First, First, First!!!
Bedlam ensues on the stage. Now the gold girls are disgusted, the high girls know they have just been scammed to the highest degree and are trying to adjust to the trickery they have just experienced. The girls are crying…and I’m crying, with joy, because this is the greatest thing that’s happened all day for me. And they know…
Gold is actually 3rd place.
High gold is really 2nd place.
Platinum is the real first…
Until, they announce the next girl…Rachel Jones….PLATINUM PLUS!!! And I am now rolling on the floor as the emotions start all over again on the stage.
The girls know that all that most of them received was simply a participation trophy. And what was once prized is now, nothing more than a trinket.
I fear that many of us when we stand before the Lord will receive a participation trophy. Something that says, “Hey. At least you’re here.”
But that’s not how we’re supposed to compete in this game called life. It’s not how Mrs. Phyllis competed.
2 TIMOTHY 4.7-8
7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
- Mrs. Phyllis was a woman who lived her life with PURPOSE.
She, as Paul says here, “fought the good fight.”
- Mrs. Phyllis knew her purpose was to love people.She loved people fiercely.
- She loved her family.
- When I met with the family yesterday, I asked them, “Tell me about mama? These were the first words Laney and Lea said to me. “She was a strong woman. One that showed us that you get up every day trusting God. She is a rock. The glue for our family.” Laney and Lea knew that their mother loved them.
- Mrs. Phyllis loved her grand girls too! Lauren and Beth were such a source of joy and pride for Mrs. Phyllis. She’d do anything for her grand daughters.
- She loved her church.
- taught Sunday School, 3rd grade for 24+ years. Think of how many children were taught the love and forgiveness of God by Mrs. Phyllis. She taught all of my girls. and I’m so grateful for that.
- She worked behind the scenes overseeing all the drama parts for the children’s musicals here at Mount Gilead. And she would make sure the kids knew their stuff and did the best they could do. I myself, participated in a couple, and I too was reprimanded by Mrs. Phyllis.
- She oversaw all the speaking parts and the guides for a Christmas ministry called Walk Thru Bethlehem we did here at Mount Gilead for 10 years. Mrs. Phyllis, Danny and I recorded the entire drama on CD to help our people learn their parts. And we had a great time laughing and Danny and I both being reprimanded again for messing up our lines, which we were supposed to flawlessly know. My favorite memory from that time was when she messed up her line and just looked at us like, “Don’t you say a word Bro. Mike!” and I didn’t.
- She absolutely loved her life group here at church. Always making sure she signed up for Mrs. Patti Motta’s group. Her and Patti formed a great relationship and spent a lot of time together. But she loved being a part of her life group.
- She loved her friends. She and Mrs. Chris Tice have been Saturday morning breakfast buddies for years and years. Running their stringent schedule and rotation of various breakfast locations around Dothan. She was a faithful friend.
- She loved her students. The ones she taught in high school and the one’s she had at church. I don’t really remember many of my first conversations with people, but I remember mine with Mrs. Phyllis. We were in the gym and I was having my little meet and greet with the church in 2009. Mrs. Phyllis introduced herself and said, “Do you know Veronica and William Lawson?” Now, Veronica and William are my cousins, both a little older than myself. But I thought to myself, “What have they done now?” I told Mrs. Phyllis that I knew them and that they were my cousins. And she told me that she had taught them at Houston County and then she said, “I still pray for them. I pray for all my students.” I thought to myself, we need more teachers like that.”
- She loved Jesus. She loved God’s creation. Especially trips to the mountains. Mrs. Phyllis wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, and she did it by loving them. Jesus loved her and she wanted to love people.
2. Mrs Phyllis lived a life of PERSEVERANCE.
She, finished the race.
- The last thing Mrs. Phyllis did on this earth was attend a worship event with all the ladies of our church. Thursday, she showed up (an hour and a half early!) to attend a Tea and Testimony event planned by the women of our church. Arriving early because she was so excited to get to hear Mrs. Patti tell her testimony of God’s faithfulness and she wanted to make sure Mrs. Patti knew she had support. After leaving the church Thursday, Bro. Bradley and myself, and a host of ladies from our church went to the hospital to check of Phyllis. While in the ER, She made quite a rebound. She had a spirit of joy and kept talking about how embarrassed she was, and she was joking about not hearing all of Patti’s testimony in one piece.
- Do you know what Mrs. Phyllis did her last Sunday at our church? She taught all the 3rd graders in our church and then went and led our church in worship by singing in the choir. Something she did faithfully every week for well over 20 years.
- A lot of people try to retire from ministry and say, “I’ve done my part.” Mrs. Phyllis never retired. She got a promotion instead.
3. Mrs. Phyllis lived a life of FAITHFULNESS.
Paul said, that he kept the faith.
Mrs. Phyllis was faithful to her family.
Faithful to her friends.
Faithful to her Lord. Grateful for all He had done in her life.
4. Mrs. Phyllis FINISHED WELL.
Verse 8 says, “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that Day.
When Mrs. Phyllis met her Savior she heard from his lips, Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25).
A participation trophy says, “Congratulations, you were here.”
A crown of righteousness says, “Congratulations, you’re a hero.”