Surrounded by friends and family, Richard Phillips speaks on the grounds of Good Shepherd School, Collingswood, where a tree was dedicated to his son, Ricky, a 2004 graduate who died in 2011.
Photo by James A. McBride
Family, students, and parishioners of Good Shepherd Regional School and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish, Collingswood, and the greater community came together Jan. 7 to dedicate an evergreen Christmas tree on school grounds for 2004 Good Shepherd graduate Ricky Phillips, who died suddenly in December 2011 at the age of 21.
Last year, the Ricky Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in his memory, giving scholarships to graduating track students at Good Shepherd and at Paul VI High School in Haddon Township, from which Ricky graduated in 2008.
The Scholarship Fund also sponsors students at Sacred Heart High School in Camden.
Ricky’s parents attended the dedication service. Ricky’s father Richard recalled his son as a young boy saying that a Christmas tree symbolizes Jesus, because it lives forever.