 John Reagan Philips Tender Soul
Born August 2, 1986, a tender and gentle soul, John Reagan
Philips, died of a heroin overdose November 3, 2005. John was adopted by Jean
Ford Reagan and Peter Woodward Philips on August 21, 1986. John's adopted
sister, Jane Reagan Philips came into the family on March 16, 1988.
John and his family lived by Liberty Park.
John went to the Community
Cooperative Nursery
School for three years. Kindergarten through
sixth grade John went to the Open Classroom located at Washington Elementary
School. John attended Clayton for middle school
and the City Academy
for high school (except his sophomore year when he attended East High School).
John spent much of his summers in the Grand Teton National Park
sharing time in Lupine Meadows with Paul Kimbrough and his ranger-parents Tom
Kimbrough and Barb Eastman. John was especially at home in the outdoors. He
was a natural climber, an instinctive fisher, an agile and daring skier and a
child with eyes for nature. Once Paul and John were fishing in the Winds and
John headed back to camp only to be stalked by a bear. John determined it was
a black bear and shouted to chase it away. The bear turned tail only to head
straight for Paul turning aside at the last moment.
John had a deeply loving and close relationship with his sister.
Every day she felt lucky to have him as her brother, her guide, her hero.
They almost never fought. They were close in age and played together with
exploration and joy. He helped her catch her first fish on a fly pole at Lake Solitude
in the Tetons. He held her hand through life.
John and his mother Jean were two peas in a pod. Considerate and
empathic, never competitive, John and Jean were equally and similarly liked
by all for their consideration, kindness and love. As a young child, John did
not like to be separate from his parents. He did not like day care. He didn't
even like to be left in the car while you went in to pay for gas. His mother
quit her job at the phone company when John was three in order to be a full
time mother and the connection between John and his mom was deep and
intimate.
John and his father Peter explored the outdoors together. They
fished and hiked and camped. John was born with a deformed lower vertebra.
When John was nine, he and his father traveled around the country consulting
with physicians about surgery for this condition. Eventually the surgery was
done locally at the Primary Children's hospital, and it was remarkably
successful preserving John from pain for the rest of his short life.
In ninth grade John met a special girl, Jessica. They shared a
special love that grew for the next five years. Jessica and John lived in the
Tetons with John's father who had become a park
ranger and Jessica lived with us as part of the family.
For reasons we do not understand, starting in eighth grade John
started getting involved with drugs, mostly marijuana. He worked with his
parents and his family and Jessica to control or resist this involvement but
he also gave into it as well. By 11th grade things started getting more
serious first with alcohol and then with heroin. Heroin stole John first from
his family, then from his friends, then from all who loved him. Early
Thursday morning, heroin stole John from himself.
Our hearts go out to all that loved John including his birth
parents. We are so sorry. When John was little, he did not want his father to
leave for the University to give his lectures. But knowing dad would go, John would plead "Don't forget to talk about
me!" We never will.
Friends may gather to remember John at City Academy,
2416 E. 1700 S., (801-596-8489), Sat. Nov. 5th, at 4 p.m. A potluck will follow.
The family wishes donations in John's memory to be made to "City Academy"
via any Wells Fargo Bank.
Published in the
Salt Lake Tribune from 11/4/2005 - 11/5/2005.
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