Betty Eleanor Phillips

Betty Eleanor Phillips, of Kingsport, Tennessee went to be with the Lord on Sunday, February 15, 2026. Born in Finney County, Kansas to the late Henry A. Wiebe and Mary Ens Wiebe, Betty grew up on a Mennonite wheat farm, and lived in Texas, Michigan, Maine, South Carolina, and Hawaii before retiring in Kingsport in 2007.

Betty attended the Bethel Deaconess School of Nursing in Newton, Kansas, earning a registered nurse degree. Following nurses training, she moved to Dallas, TX, where she met her beloved husband of 61 years, David D. Phillips, then a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. Betty worked as a nurse in many settings throughout her life, but the work she most valued was serving as a devoted pastor’s wife, mother to her two daughters, and grandmother to six grandchildren. She carried out all her callings with love, faithfulness, and a sense of humor.

Betty loved the Lord and was actively involved in the churches she attended—teaching women’s Bible studies in most of them, teaching youth and children, and playing the organ and piano, which she loved to do. She was a lifelong reader, especially of the Bible. She prayed faithfully for each of her family members, for friends, for missions, and any other need she learned of. She loved to sew and craft and blessed many people with the things she made. She was a member at Indian Springs Baptist Church in Kingsport.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents, and her brothers Ted, Art, and Orv Wiebe.

She leaves behind her husband, David D. Phillips, daughters Anne Phillips and Susan Haywood (Jeff); grandchildren Katherine Steadman (John), John Siglin, Margaret Hix, Elizabeth Siglin, Lily Haywood, Reid Haywood, and great-granddaughter Alice Steadman.

The funeral will be held at Indian Springs Baptist Church on Thursday, February 19, 2026 at 3:30 PM, with visitation beginning at 2:30 and graveside service to follow at Hamlett Dobson Memorial Park in Blountville.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12.