Services held for local businessman
Funeral services were held in Oneida Friday evening for local businessman W.T. “Bill” Phillips, who died Wednesday (Jan. 16). He was 91.
Mr. Phillips was a business owner and manager in Scott County for more than 40 years, most notably as co-owner and general manager of Scott Foods.
After attending college at East Tennssee State University, Mr. Phillips returned to Scott County and entered retail as a business owner for Lawrence Kline. He established his first business in 1947, purchasing the Oneida Cash Store from his sister and brother-in-law, Fred and Dorothy Ellis. He operated the Oneida Cash Store until 1961, when he co-founded Scott Foods. The south Oneida store was billed as a “one-stop shopping center under one roof,” the first such store in Scott County. Mr. Phillips would operate Scott Foods until his retirement in 1981.
In 2005, Mr. Phillips was inducted into the Scott County Hall of Fame in honor of his lifetime business achievement. He was a Past Master of the Oneida Masonic Lodge.
Bill Phillips and his wife, Lucille Lewallen Phillips, were married for 67 years, and raised five children. Son Wm. Paul Phillips serves as Attorney General in Tennessee’s 8th Judicial District, which includes Scott County, and son Thomas Phillips is a federal judge in U.S. District Court. The couple’s other children include sons Dr. Gary Phillips, who practices with Mountain People’s in Oneida; Steve Phillips, a local financial advisor; and daughter Lynda Phillips-Madson.