Ronald Glenn Phillips

A Memorial Picnic will take place in Columbia, Missouri on April 5, 2025, 4 pm at the Columbia Farmer’s Market Pavilion in Clary-Shy Park, 1769 W. Ash Street, corner of Clinkscales and Ash. Special thanks to Columbia Farmer’s Market, Columbia Parks and Recreation, the Department of Architectural Studies, and many others for their kind assistance with this event. Please RSVP to Deni Phillips by phone or text: 573-424-9693.

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Ronald Glenn Phillips joined humanity on December 20, 1947, (Ronn liked to say he was born “five days before Jesus,”) and five days before his mother’s birthday on Christmas day, as well. Due to this fact, he received little sympathy for having a birthday close to Christmas. His parent’s, Freddie Orville Phillips and Dorothy Jane (Weinhold) Phillips, brought him home to their first apartment off Cherokee. Within a couple of years, his father purchased a two-story, two-family brick home on Juniata Street. The neighborhood was typical of the era, with small shops on each corner and homes in between. It was a time when ice was still delivered by horse-drawn wagon.

Throughout Ronn’s young life, the first floor of the building was occupied by his maternal grandparents Edwin O. Weinhold, and Hildegard Jane (Shade) Weinhold and by his great-grandparents, Martin and Magdelena Weinhold. The first-born grandchild, Ronn had a special bond with his grandfather, who taught him to play baseball and encouraged his involvement in sports.

That encouragement resulted in Ronn being very athletic. The neighborhood was full of kids, and they invented things to do. Ronn taught himself to pole-vault using a broom stick, jumping over a chain-link fence. He spent time at the Tower Grove swimming pool doing fancy moves off the high-dive, and he taught himself the art of trampoline gymnastics. While attending high school, he would sometimes perform his feats of daring on the trampoline for school assemblies, and taught trampoline at the elementary school.

Ronn attended St. John’s Lutheran elementary school, a private school for grades 1 through 8. In 8^th grade he was class president. In high school at Lutheran South, he became a kicker on the football team, and participated as a pole vaulter in track and field. He held records in pole vaulting, and always thought he could have flown even higher if they’d had the benefit of modern poles, and soft air pillows to land on instead of a bed of sand.

During high school he began dating Margaret Schmidt. This relationship in boy-and-girlfriend state lasted until after his first tour in Vietnam, when they got married, and remained wed for 12 years.

Ronn attempted higher education at a number of community colleges, constantly landing on probation. He wasn’t committed to school, but became a master Bridge player. Having exhausted his military deferment, he joined the Navy, expecting to be stationed at sea. But his community college attendance qualified him for a ‘school’ – and as he made check marks next to many shipboard options, he found one that might serve him after the service: builder.

Ronn became a SeaBee assigned to Mobile Construction Battalion 121, located in Gulfport, Mississippi. He went to Vietnam twice, and finished his service commitment at the rank of Second Class Petty Officer. Ronn had many tales about his service days in Vietnam, among them that the architects who were officers he observed were no smarter or more capable than he. It was the confidence boost he needed and he came home with a commitment to become an architect. He also became a company clerk at one point, thanks to his typing skills, and was a lifeguard at China Beach. Making lemonade out of lemons was a specialty.

When Ronn returned from his first tour of duty and married Margaret, they moved into an apartment building in Gulfport. While Ronn was visiting St. Louis, Hurricane Camille hit the city and base, and leveled his apartment, scattering all of their wedding presents. They started over. Ronn’s Company participated in the cleanup efforts. It became his second opportunity to be exposed to Agent Orange.

After Ronn’s second tour, he was released from the Navy and started school at Kansas State University. He graduated with a B.S. in Psychology in 1974, and a Bachelor’s in Architecture in 1975, focusing on gerontology. In 1976 he attained an Aging Specialist Certificate from University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and began working on his doctorate.

Ronn’s teaching career started in 1974 as a Graduate Teaching Instructor at K-State in the Dept. of Architecture, and as a faculty member from 1978 through 1983 in the College of Architecture and Urban Design. During this period, he began to develop his unique perspective on education, and how to be an educator. His teaching style was a combination of lecture and experiences he provided for his students. His ‘outside the box’ thinking earned him the respect of his students, and allowed them to grow their own educational and life goals. He called it ‘experiential learning.’ At the time of his death, he was still in touch with a number of students from his first teaching assignments, all of whom developed careers in architecture and interior design fields.

During Ronn’s Vietnam experience, he fell in love with masonry, so while working at K-State, he and Margaret purchased a fixer-upper—an old stone house on land originally granted by Abraham Lincoln. The three-story structure still stands. It was constructed of golden Kansas limestone. Ronn spent a lot of time making the house became livable, and completely de-constructed and re-constructed a three-story fireplace.

Ronn and Margaret separated during the final year of his employment at K-State, and he worked as a carpenter and jack of all trades, lived on peanut butter sandwiches and spent every minute he could getting the house ready to sell. This would become a recurring theme—building, renovating and selling houses.

In 1985, Ronn began his employment at the University of Missouri-Columbia, teaching Environmental Design in the College of Human Environmental Sciences (HES), and immediately accepted two other roles, that of State Environmental Design Extension Specialist and the Director of Graduate Studies. He finished his dissertation, ‘Rural Migration of Older People in Michigan: Effects of Changes in Personal Independence on Environments and Service Use’ and received his ArchD from University of Michigan in 1986.

In the physical classroom, Ronn never took attendance, but used a trick that taught those who were ditching his class that they’d best not. Early in the semester on a day when his classroom was not full enough, he would share a secret with those in attendance. Together they would decide the ‘Color of the Bus Driver’s Tie’—and that question would appear on the test.

As the MO Environmental Design Extension Specialist, he was granted access to the lives of many individuals and communities who sought him out for advice on their projects. One example of a residence was a house built completely from Styrofoam. Not only did he consult on the project, but he also involved students to help out the older couple who were building the structure on their own by hand.

He also worked with a number of municipalities in the state on various programs that would allow them to have better control over their building and design standards.

Shortly after coming to Mizzou, Ronn married ReVae Ford. They purchased acreage south of Columbia and Ronn designed a house for the two of them, and for each of their mothers. The two-story house was sleek, modern and reminiscent of the ships in which Ronn was becoming interested. There was a large atrium intended to house a banana tree, and of course, a big fireplace. Ronn and ReVae were married about ten years.

Among the organizations Ronn was called upon to assist, Sustainable Farms and Communities (SFAC) asked him to consult on the permanent farmers market building project. The Board of Directors met with Ronn in February of 1999. He recommended creating a community participation series. These events encouraged all who were interested to present their priorities and opinions. The entire Board worked on pulling together meetings for the farmers, chefs and cooks, people who might use the space to create products, organizations that might need a community meeting space, etc. From the responses, Ronn wrote an Architectural Program (a document that describes the design components of a building to the architect or designer.) Interviews were conducted with several designers, and the Board selected Daryl Rantis, an architect who was practicing in Fayetteville, AR. Daryl was also a former student of Ronn’s, and he understood that he was working for three parties, the Columbia City Council, the Columbia Farmers Market, as well as SFAC.

The City Council was entertaining ideas for the Clary-Shy Park, and planning to build the Area Recreation Center (ARC). Their design for the ARC was quite modern, and they wanted to preserve the architectural language it was dictating. Daryl created floor plans and renderings of the proposed space. Ronn participated in bringing these designs to the City Council, and was instrumental in acquiring the long-term lease agreement (pending funding) that secured the location during a fund-raising period. In the end, an economic downturn did not allow the original plan to be built.

However, in 2017, Ronn and his wife (since 2004), Deni, participated with Sarah Bantz in another community participatory process to arrive at designs for the community center building that is currently being built next to the Columbia Farmer’s Market (MU Health) Pavilion.

Ronn met his third wife, Denise Phillips (Deni Cary Phillips) on the SFAC Board. The two worked together on the project for many years, and finally cemented their relationship with wedding vows on May 1, 2004. Ronn inherited step-children Kendal Durham and Alyson (Durham) Thompson. While Kendal was nearly grown, Alyson was 11-years-old and very much a part of Ronn and Deni’s lives. Though he never considered himself to be ‘Dad’ material, Ronn took to the step-parent role and enjoyed long discussions with both Kendal and Alyson. He would help Alyson with homework when she needed his expertise, and he facilitated many fun adventures, including her first trip to Disney World.

Ronn and Deni were great traveling companions and made several trips to Europe. Especially taken with Ireland, Ronn loved everything about it except driving on the left. He would swoon over fresh-caught seafood chowder or bangers and mash. He also loved jazz and followed ‘Planet Jazz’ to local gigs around Missouri, and took jazz piano lessons from 2010 to 2020 when the pandemic intervened.

Ronn’s heritage was Welsh and German. He found his homeland in Wales moments after arriving on that shore, and felt right at home when the museum guide explained that “the Phillips were wreckers.” Yes, Ronn’s Welsh ancestors were pirates. From the German side came a love of all German foods, from “stinky cheese,” to “pickled herring,” to “applesauce with pork.”

It would be derelict, while talking about family, not to mention Ronn’s love of animals, and particularly dogs. Though a city kid, he loved going to his paternal grandfather’s farm in Ohio, where he communed with farmyard animals and puppies. Over years he owned many pets, a horse, two harlequin Great Danes and several other dogs, but the one he claimed was best ever was a beautiful mutt named Darci. Ronn wasn’t keen on getting a dog, but after a bout of destroying shoe laces and a leather sofa, Darci settled down to become Ronn’s constant companion. He used to say his Native American name should be ‘sleeps with dogs’—and he did.

Ronn and Deni purchased a house and added 1400’ sf to the Hurst John designed building, raising the ranch home to 1.5 stories. Working together on the design, it was Ronn who spent every moment of his time creating timeless details and craftsman touches. With typical athletic energy, at the age of 59, Ronn erected the trusses of the addition on his own, using a pulley method with his foot in a rope stirrup and his weight. He devised a radiant floor system using plumbing pex and a pair of hot water heaters “set on vacation low” for heat. He discovered the availability of Space-pak air conditioning so the ceiling of the principal suite could be a cathedral. And after he finished the addition, he remodeled the 1956 portion, adding new window trim, baseboards and finishing the basement.

As mentioned previously, Ronn was interested in boats. This interest led to him become ‘Captain Ronn,’ Certified Bareboat Captain (a bareboat skipper has the credentials to operate sailing vessels in domestic and foreign waters.) Among Ronn’s many unique experiential classes, he developed a Design Studio called ‘Design for Confined Spaces.’ In this class, he offered students the opportunity to learn on sailing excursions—not sailboat rides—but as trained crew members. The students were expected to fulfill the duties of managing the boat at sea, preparing meals on board, and in that process, discovering ways to make confined spaces more inviting and livable. This course was very popular, and it took his students from the islands of Greece, to the British Virgin and American Virgin Islands on boats from 36’ to 50’.

Another of his experiential learning endeavors, Ronn envisioned and created the Boone County Lumber Building System Laboratory. With funds donated by the Eiffert family, Ronn equipped a state-of-the-art woodworking lab and taught students how to use the tools, from table saws to lathes. They created small pieces of furniture, boxes and lamps. Anything they wanted to build could qualify once they knew how to use the tools.

As Director of Graduate Studies, Ronn was instrumental in initiating and facilitating the first online graduate program at MU. This distance learning model brought new challenges for Ronn and his colleagues to overcome. The students were adults doing jobs in design fields, and it was with joy that Ronn enlisted his creativity to work with each individual on their goals and help them fulfill the academic needs their positions required. Several of those students sought help from Ronn in their businesses after they graduated.

Throughout his career as a Department of Architectural Studies faculty member, Ronn was recognized numerous times at the college and campus levels for outstanding teaching and mentoring. At the campus level he received the prestigious Provost’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Teaching Award (1989) and in 2013, the Graduate Faculty Mentor Award. Ronn retired to accolades from his colleagues and fond farewells in 2014. Within a semester of two, he was offered an Adjunct Professor position in the Master of Strategic Leadership Program at Stephen’s College, which he accepted and fulfilled for four years.

Ronn was witty, authentic and steadfast, quick to give you an eye roll and a cheeky grin, but dedicated to his work in every aspect, from Extension to the Department, but most of all, to his students.

Ronn died March 13, 2025 after a seven-month engagement with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Denise Cary Phillips, his step-children Kendal (Jillian) Durham, Alyson (Nate) Thompson, one grandchild, Juniper Thompson; a sister, Deb Phillips and her husband, Jim Hall; a nephew, Kyle Phillips Hall (Elli); a cousin, Tom Scheiter, his wife Christine and their son Fisher; as well as a host of people who love him, as a teacher, a colleague, a friend.

If you desire to make a memorial donation in lieu of flowers, please consider supporting Habitat for Humanity, https://www.showmehabitat.org/donate. Please leave a note “Phillips Memorial” if you choose to donate.