Tina Marie Phillips
Remembering an Angel:
Tina Marie Phillips
by Kevin Caruso
Tina Marie Phillips was a beautiful, intelligent, caring, popular, talented, and very special young woman.
Tina loved to spend time with her friends and family, and she was a VERY loyal and loving friend. “Tina was the most loyal person and friend I have ever met,” said Amy Yampanis, Tina’s best friend. “Once she decided she liked you, she was a friend for life. Tina would do anything for the people that she cared about – she would have given up her last dollar to help others if they asked it of her. She was very giving, compassionate, loving, and caring.”
Tina loved to crochet, make crafts, cook, and celebrate the holidays. Indeed every holiday was a special event for Tina and she would make elaborate decorations and cook many special treats.
Tina also loved animals and had a special rabbit that she called “Baby Girl.” Tina and Baby Girl were inseparable at home, and Tina thought of her as her baby.
Tina also worked many years as a hair dresser and was well respected and loved for her great styling ability and her wonderful personality.
And Tina loved to spend time with her wonderful children, Angelia and Casey. Tina was a very loving mom!
But most of all, Tina really loved to spend time with Amy Yampanis, her best friend. Tina and Amy were extremely close. “Tina was so much more to me than a friend – the word friend does not come even close to describing what she meant to me,” said Amy. “She was like the other half to my whole. She was one of the first people to help me realize that I didn’t deserve the abuse I was suffering at the hand of my ex. When I needed a place to stay to get away from him when he became dangerous, she would be right there for me. When I finally got up the strength and courage to leave him, she took me in until I could afford a place to live on my own. We spent so much time together that I sort of became a second mother to her two kids over the years. I always knew I never had to worry about not having somewhere to go for any holidays – her door was always open. We would talk for hours on the phone or in person, and she understood me more than anyone else ever has. She was my soul-sister, a friend that was more than a friend, more than a sister, more than someone to hang out with when I was bored. She helped me in so many ways – in more ways than words could ever explain. She helped me to find myself; to find the little inner Amy that was hiding for so long inside. She befriended me when no one else really would (because of my abusive ex-husband). She encouraged me to leave him, and protected me from him when I did. She loved me when no one else seemed to be able to, and she forgave me so much more than I ever deserved to be forgiven. She was the ONLY friend that stuck by me during and after the divorce from my ex-husband, and the only friend I have had for so long.”
Amy’s words sum up what a spectacular friend Tina was…a one-in-a-million friend who was ALWAYS there for the people she loved.
Tina Marie Phillips died by suicide when she was 42.
Tina is survived by her daughter, Angelia; son, Casey; mother, Joyce; and father, Edward.
Tina Marie Phillips
Tina Marie Phillips is now one of the greatest angels in Heaven.
We miss her.
We love her.
We honor her.
And we will never forget her.
