Ronald
Dale McPhillips, 77, retired judge of the Montana Ninth Judicial District
and long time resident of Shelby passed away at his home on January 4, 2010
after a long battle with cancer. Memorial services will be held at St. Luke’s
Lutheran Church in Shelby on Saturday, January 9th at 2:00. Whitted
Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Survivors include his wife Bernice of Shelby; daughters Sharol (Scott) O’Brien of Shelby, Patricia McPhillips of Shelby, and Jill (Fabrice) Bonjean of Paris, France; and granddaughters, Kristen (James) Russell of Great Falls, Lisa O’Brien of Missoula, and Alyson O’Brien of Shelby. Ronald was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Robert V. McPhillips; sister, Carlene Bjerke; and infant sister, Maxine McPhillips.
Ronald was born on March 14, 1932 to Signe J. (Maki) and Robert O. McPhillips in Great Falls. He grew up in Shelby. After graduating from high school in 1950 where he was captain of the football and basketball teams, he attended Montana State University at Missoula majoring in pre-veterinary science. After two quarters, he decided to take a job as a lineman for the Marias River Electric Co-operative. Several months later, he enrolled in the Landig College of Mortuary Science in Houston, Texas. He was 20 years old when he earned his certificate to become a licensed mortician and embalmer.
He was drafted into the Army in 1952 and became a telephone repairman. He taught Koreans how to repair telephone switchboards for a couple of months before he took charge of a graves registration group and ran an Army morgue north of Seoul for 10 months.
In the summer of 1954 he went back to Montana State University and in 1956 earned a B.S. degree in Business Finance. While attending business administration school, he discovered two things about himself: he was a rapid reader and he liked to study business law.
A new interest was awakened and he decided to go to law school, but he needed to figure out how to pay for it. So, through the help of a friend, he got an emergency certificate from the state of Illinois and taught junior high English and mathematics for one year. He began law school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and transferred to Valparaiso University in Indiana. There he met his future wife, Bernice Boyum of Ledger and Ethridge, on a blind date set up by their sisters while she was living close by in Chicago.
While working as a lineman for Marias River Electric over Christmas vacation in 1957, a pole set in a soft bank fell, smashing his left leg and lower back. After six weeks in a hospital, he was discharged with the leg amputated just below the knee. Mixing determination with courage and practicality, he was back at Valparaiso law school in February on crutches.
He married Bernice on February 15, 1958 in St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, the same church where he was baptized and confirmed. At the end of the school year, they moved back to Missoula; he graduated from the University of Montana Law School in 1960.
While a senior in law school, Ron ran for Toole County Attorney and won. While serving as Toole County Attorney, he worked in private practice with G.C. Hoyt. In January 1963, he was appointed by Governor Tim Babcock to fill the unexpired term of Judge W.M. Black who died on Christmas Day, and he was elected to serve as Judge of the Ninth Judicial District, which covers Toole, Pondera, Teton and Glacier counties, until his retirement on February 1, 1994. In an article in the Great Falls Tribune in 1963, which focused on his being the youngest judge in Montana, he answered a question about sentencing people to prison, “That’s a matter of discretion. You have to consider society, the state, the defendant, and then pray a little.” He was proud and honored to serve the people of Montana as a judge.
Despite a diagnosis of terminal multiple myeloma in February 1993, Judge McPhillips lived another 17 years filled with new interests and experiences. He was a lifelong fisherman, hunter, oilman, rancher and farmer. He enjoyed spending several winters in Arizona and Nevada. His two most favorite places to go were his cabin that he built by Babb and fishing on Two Medicine Lake. He was always interested in current events, read the Tribune and Wall Street Journal every day along with other publications, and even watched CSPAN to keep up on the news and politics.
Judge McPhillips belonged to many civic and charitable organizations including Toole County Chairman of the Red Cross, president of the Shelby Lion’s club, the VFW, the Masonic Lodge in Galata, a life member of the Elks Lodge, the Glacier Penguins RV club, the Shriners, and a charter and a golden member of the Sons of Norway in Cut Bank, Normont #507.
Memorials are suggested to St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Shelby, Gift of Life Family Housing, P.O. Box 7008, Great Falls, MT 59406-7008, or the donor’s choice. Condolences may be posted at www.whittedfuneralchapel.com.