Charlotte Phillips, 1945-2020

Charlotte Anne Trapman Phillips, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Asia, died August 18, 2020, after a long illness. She was 74.

For two years, Phillips had battled a degenerative disease that made her unable to speak. She instead used a text-to-speech program. When a pastor at her church asked her to make a “card testimony” for her ladies’ Bible study, she created this video.

Phillips was born in 1945 in Belleview, Illinois, and grew up from age 2 in Fort Worth, Texas, where she graduated from Lake Worth High School. She received the Bachelor of Business Administration from North Texas State University, Denton, and the Master of Science from Texas Tech University, Lubbock.

After college, she worked in Dallas, becoming regional program director for a government consulting firm. During that time, she began dating Larry Phillips and they married in 1970.

In 1972, the Phillipses moved to Denver, Colorado, and began attending Riverside Baptist Church. Charlotte wrote when seeking missionary appointment, that when they first started attending Riverside, the people’s enthusiasm for Jesus scared her. But she soon realized that they had something she wanted in her life. She and Larry accepted Christ and joined the church together.

As their faith grew, Larry felt called into the ministry and later they felt called to missions. The Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) appointed them missionaries where they served in several Asian countries.

The Phillipses served 30 years before retiring. They were living in Alhambra, California, when Charlotte died.

Phillips is survived by her husband of 50 years, Larry Phillips, and other family. A service is to be held later.