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The Reflections Journal of Phil Ivey’s Lifetime Memories
as recorded by Amy, Covenant Care Volunteer in the Spring months of 2016

The Early Years
On Nov 10, 1933, Phil Wilbert Ivey Jr. was born in Weldon, NC in his parents’ home, right after the Great Depression. His father, Phil Wilbert Ivey, was Scotch Irish and his mother, Idell Taylor Ivey, was Native American and English. He has no brothers or sisters, and his mother died when he was one and a half (when giving birth to Marian Gray Ivey. Both mother and child dies on 07/12/1935). Interesting fact about Idell that Phil remembered clearly was that she stepped out the door one day and her foot went through the wooden step where she was bitten by a Black Widow Spider. She was hospitalized with blood poisoning. She is buried in Aurelian Springs. Phil was raised by his maternal grandmother, Pearley Carlisle, and he called her “Mom.”

Pearley was Pentecostal and believed one could speak in tongues, but Phil doesn’t think she had that ability. She worked extremely hard in a textile mill for 15 cents an hour. “There was not much work then.”
Weldon was a diverse village with 10 houses on one side of the street and 3 on the other. “There was one street coming in, one going down, and a corn field behind the town.” It was the county seat of Halifax County. The population was about 50% black and 50% white. The Roanoke River was a quarter of a mile away and flooded in 1940. It washed away the home Phil was born in. (Phil thinks his father went to live with his brother then, as they were pretty close.)
Route 301 ran right through the center of town connecting New York to Miami. It was busy on Friday nights with U. S. Marines heading home and other places on the weekends. He said, “I guess they carpooled because every car was loaded down.” There were no mountains but there were forests. There was a railroad depot and the lines that ran through were Atlantic Coastline and Seaboard.
Everyone in the village was friends. They played baseball in the dirt streets and used cardboard for bases. Phil always liked to play third base and was a good hitter too. He played baseball until he was 51. His childhood best friend was Otis Gregory, nicknamed “Tinker.” They were best friends from the age of 6-16, when Otis was drafted by the Army. He was liked by everyone.

Phil started school in first grade at the all-white school, Weldon Elementary, and remembers learning to read using the Dick and Jane books. He loved math, but didn’t pick up too well on Science. There were six grades in elementary school, two grades in middle school, and four grades in high school. Other teens were bused to the High School so Phil met new friends then. Phil was well liked and known as the class clown. There were 13 students in his class and he dropped out in 10th grade to join the Navy in 1951.
Phil had lots of cousins that lived close by. On his mother’s side, there were Sam, Lois, Jackie, Mildred, Louise, Sandra, Bill, Darlene, and Daniel- the youngest. On his father’s side, there were James Willie, Ben and Lockhardt. He hasn’t seen them in 30 or 40 years. Pearley had an “attention getter” which was a peach limb that she used on his backside almost every day from the time he was 5 years old until he was 12. He said he deserved every one of them.

Life in the village was simple. Family reunions were held every year in the summer and hosted at someone’s house in the village. Pearley would make delicious potato salad and he remembers, “Eating, playing, and raising hell.” The kids all played games they organized themselves, like tag, volleyball, dodge ball and kickball. The circus came to town every October. Phil loved watching the little old man controlling the huge elephants. Christmas was a small thing mostly about religion. They would have a big family meal and several cousins would come over to play. Phil considered himself an Episcopalian as a child.
Phil Senior, whom Phil called “Dad” was drafted into the Army during WWII and remarried upon his return to the states and became a butcher when Phil Junior was 16. When Pearley died, Phil went to live with his father and step-mother. He says the transition was not difficult. Phil Senior lived from 1917- 1986, and died from cancer that started in his lungs and went to his brain. Phil Junior does not remember his paternal grandparents and Phil believes that his father was the oldest of the children and buried in Weldon.

Food
Phil liked all food. He says Pearley was a fantastic cook. She would be up at 4:30 in the morning making biscuits on the wood stove for breakfast. Sometimes she baked butter and cheese in the dough. She didn’t have much to cook with, but when she did it was very edible! He resisted narrowing down his favorites to just one meal, but if he had to pick one, he would have boiled cabbage, corned beef and collard greens. He ate a lot of fish, and loved all veggies and meats. They ate a lot of dried beans, i.e. butter beans. He wasn’t real fond of anything spicy including hot sauce. They had BBQ maybe once every two or three weeks. He ate lots of peaches and picked lots of blackberries. He would sell some of them and Pearley would bake them in pies and cobblers.

High School Years
At Weldon High, Phil loved to play baseball. He was a third baseman and a strong hitter. He liked to hit an outside fast ball, but walked quite a bit as well. He wasn’t a base stealer because he ran fast but in the same place for too long.

Phil was a member of the local 4 H unit. He can’t recall specific projects but attended meetings and lectures on the subject of farming. The main crops they studied were tobacco, corn, peanuts, and cotton.
Uncle Lester taught Phil to drive in 1949. The Studebaker was a stick shift, and Phil helped him deliver papers on Sunday morning in exchange for teaching him how to drive.

As far as dances and romances, Phil “didn’t know what a dance was.” There might have been dances but he wasn’t aware. There were only two cafes in town where people could eat and have beer but no dance hall. He reports that there were no early relationships. Everyone thought he was a clown. They tried to call him “Red” because he was a carrot top, but he was glad the name didn’t stick. He did date one girl for awhile when he was stationed in Norfolk and would come home to Weldon on weekends.

The person that most influenced his early life was his grandmother Pearley. “We were poor but we appreciated what we did have.’ She taught him these lessons, “Work hard, appreciate what you have and enjoy it,” and “Don’t want for what you don’t have.” His father was remarried and but had no children with his second wife. Pearly died of a heart attack when Phil was 16. Then he lived with his dad and step-mother. It wasn’t a difficult transition for any of them.

Adult Years
Phil considered himself an adult at 19, in 1952 while in the Navy during his first year. He felt like an idiot the first year. “I was learning everything, how to ride a train, seeing buildings higher than 3 stories, I’d never been nowhere.” He was baptized at the age of 20 in the Baptist Church. He wore pants every day of his life until 1959 when he bought shorts at Gaffers and a Wave gave him some white socks to wear because he wasn’t wearing shorts without socks!

Navy Life
The recruiting office was in Roanoke Rapids. He knew the Navy was right for him. He had two close friends that joined the Army and were stationed in Korea. “It was too cold in Korea!” His first enlistment was from 1951 to 1955. He got his GED in 1953 and didn’t give a career-life any thought until he had two or three years in the Navy. That is when he started to think ahead and he knew he didn’t want to go back to Weldon. He told me that if he hadn’t joined the Navy he would have killed someone or someone would have killed him, or he would have been in jail! He did 25 consecutive years in the Navy.
Boot camp was at NTC San Diego. He took the train to California. The ride was five long days. Slept at night and looked out windows during the day watching scenery pass “wondering what the hell it was.”
Then the Navy sent him on to “Master Cook training and then onto the commissary department which was supply.” Phil worked as a baker making bread, pies, cakes, bear claws, cookies, anything the recruits would eat at the Naval Training Center.
After San Diego he flew to Norfolk to a ship.
Ships
USS Bexar APA 237- Troop transport ship stationed in San Diego at 32nd street
USS Mercury AKS 20- Supply ship out of Norfolk
USS Ranger CVA 61- Aircraft Carrier out of Norfolk
USS Intrepid CVA 11, stationed for five months out of Norfolk, then shore duty in North West Florida.
USS Churchill County LST 527
“I did a lot of deployments on all of those ships.”
“While assigned to the ships, we lived on them, because there were no barracks. They had compartments assigned by division. The divisions were small, about 30 people each.” Phil never had to hot rack, which means to share a bunk with another sailor who worked opposite shifts. He always had his own bunk.
“When I started striking for quartermaster, we had 10 – 12 people in a group, all men. No women on a ship. Never had worked with a female, but saw some Waves at NTC one time.”
“All the ships were assigned. They put you where they wanted you, enlisted didn’t have a choice.”
“Got paid twice a month, and I had more money than I had ever seen in my life.”
“In 1956-57, the Navy came out with a new program call Seavay, Shorevay. I was one of the first into the program. In Dec 1958, I was stationed at Whiting Field for shore duty. I had no idea what a Naval Air Station was. I knew it was in Florida and the Navy would take care of me when I got there. And they did.” He seemed genuinely pleased with the life the Navy gave him.
“As a single sailor, the living arrangements were barracks, probably 100 people in each, but there were two men to a cubicle. Barracks were built out of wood and were painted white with a tar paper roof.” Mitchell was Phil’s cube mate and he was a first class fire control technician. They worked together in security, and then they would go off base a mile and a half and have a beer, shoot the breeze and clown around. Mitchell bought a boat and they went fishing on Blackwater River. They caught Bass and probably let them go. They fished for the sport of it.
There was one Wave barracks two over from mine. That’s where the girls lived.
“We ate in the mess hall.” Phil reported that he ate everything. The Navy had all the foods he had grown accustomed to in North Carolina while growing up, so he didn’t miss any home cooked meals.

Falling in Love
Phil and Lucille met in Dec 1958 at a Christmas gathering. It was not love at first sight. She delivered the weather report to all the important places on the base. Lucille joined the Navy right out of high school. They wanted her earlier but she insisted on graduating from high school. Phil called her Lucille. But when he referred to her in conversation to someone else, he called her Lucy.

Phil told Thompson that he was asking out the weather girl, but then didn’t for the longest time. Thompson would laugh every time she would leave their work space and Phil would have failed to ask her out.
Evelyn was Lucille’s roommate and they went to the EM Club (Enlisted Men’s Club) for the St Patrick’s Day dance. Phil sat with Evelyn after Lucille headed to work in the tower. And before Evelyn got too drunk, she had arranged a date between Phil and Lucille. Phil then called Lucille to confirm the date. On the third date, Phil proposed and Lucille turned him down because she didn’t know him well enough.

When they would have an inspection, Phil would take her sea bag and spit shine her shoes. They went to Cold Water Creek for fun north of Whiting field. When they went out on a friend’s boat, Lucille was pushed and Phil jumped in to save her. She wasn’t a strong swimmer. They would water ski in Blackwater River. There was no engagement ring, just a wedding band. On the 13th Anniversary he bought her the diamond she wanted for their 25th Anniversary. Phil said that he couldn’t wait until their 25th anniversary; the ring would be too expensive then.
They dated from March until October. Then married on Oct 24, 1959 at the Whiting Field Chapel in Milton. There was a large attendance of Navy Family but no relatives. At their wedding, Evelyn was the maid of honor and Dick was the best man. Phil wore the suit he had tailor made in Hong Kong. It was cashmere and cost about $40. Lucille wore a blue suit because there was no place to buy a wedding dress in Milton. He didn’t “want to get a dress that she would only wear one time. Money wasn’t that plentiful” and he was too practical. He held her hand so tight it hurt, so she was trying to loosen his grip and he just squeezed tighter. Lucille smiled a genuine smile and told me that Phil was very romantic.

A Life Together
After they were married they lived right outside the gate in military housing in a one bedroom with a living room and bath. They were cramped quarters with twin beds and came furnished. Then Lucille got out in December after finding out she was pregnant in November, as per Navy regulations. Then in Dec, they requested a two bedroom and got one in late spring. They got a TV and rocking chair from a couple named Stone who were splitting up.

They had a good group of friends…Stella Duckworth (from West Virginia), Dick and Evelyn (who married later), and Robby who married Stella. Don married Sandy.
Phil Ammon was their first born. And he was born midnight June 1, 1960 at the Santa Rosa Medical Center. Lucille was in labor three days with him. Phil W went back home to take care of the dog, Snooky, who was a little bitty Terrier. “We would open a can and eat together.”
June 17, 1961 Terry was born in Naval Hospital Balboa, in San Diego. They were living in Hillcrest overlooking Hwy 101 in their rented first civilian home ($165 a month) in an apartment building with several apts. They stayed there for a while but the baby was making noise and Lucille was doing laundry in the bathtub. They moved to an apartment on Ibis St. It had two bedrooms and a washer and a dryer, but no telephone. At this time they put in for government housing, and Lucille moved two toddlers into housing in Pacific Beach. They were the first enlisted to move into what had formerly been Officer housing.
This was their first unfurnished home. Lucille fed toddler Phil in the stroller and baby Terri in the high chair. She sat on a trunk that had been issued at Boot Camp. Officer Lewis’s wife brought them a mattress and there was still no phone. The government paid all utilities. Lucille was happy to have a washer and dryer again. They lived very simply, but then they all did. Phil splurged that year in 1961 with a new car, a Chevy Impala convertible for $3000.

Marian was born June 23, 1964 in Portsmouth Naval Hospital Virginia. (Phil named his third child after his sister Marian Gray that died at birth.)

Phil knew that he wanted a career of the Navy and never wanted to get out. Lucille liked being a military wife. There were too many benefits that they enjoyed. Marian, now an adult, wishes she had the benefits her parents enjoyed while they were affiliated with the military, both active duty and retired.
In 1962 Phil made Chief….He doesn’t even want to think about Chief’s initiation. “It messes your head up.” When he made Chief, he told Lucille that he would have to gain weight because Chiefs had a big fat belly on them.
In 1963 he was on the USS Churchill County LST 527. It was assigned to travel to Norfolk during the Cuban Missile Crisis and it went through the Panama Canal multiple times. In the mean while, Lucille and the children drove across the country and spent Christmas 1962 in Indiana on Round Barn Road with her family. She stayed there for a month or so, with her mother and step father. She could barely recognize the area where she grew up, because they had torn down her childhood home and made the block a school. This was her first time back home as a wife and mother.

Automobiles
Evelyn, their mutual friend was from Oklahoma where she had a ‘51 Ford parked and needing work. So the girls, Evelyn and Lucille, took leave and Phil drove them to the bus, and the Trailways took them to Muscogee, OK. They found someone to fix up the car. Evelyn talked about her mom’s good cooking and Lucille was looking forward to eating some of it and had yummy bean and corn bread on the last day!
When they were driving back from OK, they had to cross through the tunnel in Mobile. They had just enough money for gas to get to Milton, but not enough for the toll to get through the tunnel. The attendant from the opposite side gave them money for the toll because he saw their Navy uniforms hanging in the window.
When they got back from OK, Evelyn gave Lucille the car. It was her first. Lucille remembers taking the four of them to New Orleans in it. “That was a trip!” she said with a smile on her face.
Phil’s first car was a 1951 Ford. He wrecked it coming from Norfolk to North Carolina. He missed the turn and hit the pines trees. Phil was lucky to be alive. He and Lucille were sued for causing damage to the property owner’s trees. Phil’s friend had died in a motor vehicle accident on the same curve at a later date.
Phil bought a car when they were dating, an Oldsmobile Delta 88 1958. He bought it in 1959 so he would have a car to take Lucille on dates. They used to go to Pensacola for concerts, and one time the entertainer never arrived. They would go to Drive-in movies, water skiing, and indoor movies. Hobart Field night club had expensive curtains, and there they could dance and have a drink.
Phil and Lucille came to Pensacola to visit Lucille’s friend from Indiana, PA. They went to a club, and two men approached Phil about him having two girls and they didn’t think he deserved them. The girls turned them down for a dance.

Historical Events Remembered
Phil was half way between Cyprus and Alexandria Egypt when he heard about President JFK’s death. It was about midnight and they were in the Crypto room where they received and decoded the message. Phil sent it straight to the Captain and within 10 minutes they were in General Quarters. The sailors were griping because they had to get out of bed. Everyone was upset and was trying to figure out what happened. They got sketchy news; you could trust the message but didn’t know many other facts.
In 1954, he helped evacuate the Tachen Islands off the coast of China to protect the Chinese people from the Communist Chinese. They took them aboard USS Bexar to Formosa near Taiwan. There was a whole squadron of ships that helped carry out the mission.
Phil served during the Vietnam era. He could see the land from the ship but none of them ever went ashore. They landed troops, and supplies. It was hot year round, but there was air conditioning on the ship, when it worked!

He retired in 1975 with the rank of E-7, Chief Petty Officer, stationed aboard the Guadalcanal but was given permission to come here two weeks early to retire. Retirement Ceremony was Phil going to the Captain on base and picking up his retirement papers and going to work at K-Mart the same day.
K-mart

Phil worked at Kmart for little over 18 years and it was a pretty good company to work for. He started out at $2.50 an hour part-time while he was on shore duty in 1972. But his part-time position was 40 hours a week. Hard-line managing was his favorite job. He was in charge of hard-ware, paint, plastics, tools, rugs. The Soft line side of Kmart was clothes. His favorite part about working there was the great people he got to work with. Upper management transferred every two years or so, but the rest of the crew stayed the same. In 1990 he retired from Kmart. He got a small retirement package which now is $160 a month.

Travel
Phil and Lucille never had time to travel. And if he had the time, he didn’t have the money. “We were kind of tight. We wanted the house paid off by the time Lucille was 40.” And they did it! If he could go anywhere he wanted to go right now, he would like to go to Northern Ireland. He thinks that is where his ancestors come from and he would like to see it. He has seen it on the maps and in the pictures and it would be very educational to him. One of the places he saw while in the Navy that he would like to return to was Barcelona Spain. It was a beautiful city. He liked the way the people would walk around and then go eat late and take 2 or so hours to eat. They didn’t rush their meals. They enjoyed each other’s company sitting and talking.
Phil Jr. was a good son and was into raising show-bird chickens when he was about 15. He got snowed in at Dallas and his chicken got second place in the show. He had a white rooster that would go to the faucet to drink. Phil Jr. moved out of the family home (the first time) when he was about 19. Phil still has chickens.
Elaina Lucille was their first grandchild born in 1981 by Marion Gray. Phil accepted being a grandfather because that is just what you did. His grandchildren call him Grandpa. He doesn’t remember how that name came about. “Must have been everyone saying, “Go to Grandpa.”” He and Lucille had a total of 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren.

Full Retirement
He guesses he liked it okay. “One morning you just get up and don’t go to work.” He started “working around the yard and maybe just started drinking beer. I don’t know what I did.”
He was able to join the Chiefs League on Friday night for softball and joined two bowling leagues.
He joined a card club about 5 or 6 years ago when a lady he was bowling with introduced him to Floyd who played Pinochle. He liked the people and the game well enough that he became a regular.

Adult Years Summary
When asked what moments or events most define his Adult Years, Phil answered, “I don’t have any idea. One day I woke up as an adult and started living life the best I could.”

Final Reflections
Phil is most proud of raising a family. “Got everyone gone and no one went to jail. I guess I’m proud of that.”
In other conversations he told me of buying a worn down house and having it towed away. He liked that the lot was cleared and now it is a productive vegetable garden tended by Marion Gray.

Regrets
…None, I lived my life just the way I wanted to. I enjoyed it.
Happiest period of his life was “all of his life.”
One sad period in his life was when Terry Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer. She was up and about and very active until the last months of her life until she became bed ridden. She passed away in 3 or 4 weeks when she was given 6 months or so to live. Her sons were grown when she passed away. Terry was cared for in their family home and died on Feb 12, 2014 about midnight. Her friends, parents and sister were here with her.

When asked about his chronic illness getting more severe, he reported “That the most recent weeks have been fine. I am accepting it for what it is. It’s been a good life, and I’m not going to knock it now. I’ve never been sick. But I was diagnosed with emphysema 20 years ago, but I knew I could live with it.” Throughout his end of life illness he thought of others regularly. He donated his left handed golf clubs to First Tee and his shirts to the Redemption Store, hoping someone could use the things he is not going to use again. Phil enjoyed hearing the Blue Angels fly over again when they returned in the spring. The last two months of his life he enjoyed a return of a hearty appetite. One of his most favorite foods in his retirement years has been the crab cakes from Joe Patti’s. (And they were delicious especially in good company.) Phil watched much TV from the grand chair in the living room and was not one bit happy with the popularity of Donald Trump in his run for President. Phil never liked a bully!

Best Friend
Jim Garrett was a good friend Phil says. “But Lucille has always been my best friend. She has looked out for me for a long time. “

Most Treasured Possessions
He said, “I can’t think of a thing.” But when prompted he agreed that this home that they had built was what they wanted and it is still good. In other conversations, I could tell he values the beautiful Grandfather clock given to him by his son, Phil. Their home is decorated with Navy plaques and mementos of recognition for work well done and time well spent bowling and having fun. They belong to both Phil and Lucille.

Life’s Lessons According to Phil W Ivey Jr.….
Accept life for what it is. Live it the best you can and enjoy it.

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