Farmer served his community
7/28/2006TIFFIN - Eugene F. Philipp, 82, a longtime farmer active in his community, died from complications of emphysema Wednesday in his home in Seneca County's Clinton Township.
He retired from farming at 65. It was only this year his health kept him from tending his large vegetable garden and from mowing several acres of grass on the farmstead, daughter Barbara Lescallett said.
Mr. Philipp grew wheat, oats, corn, and soybeans on 240 acres. For years, he was a dairy farmer and milked cows and raised beef cattle, hogs, and chickens. He butchered his own livestock.
He grew up in Tiffin, but during the Depression, he often went to live on farms. He'd get room, board, and 50 cents a week to milk cows or plow.
"That's where he learned farming," his daughter said.
Mr. Philipp was in the Army and served in Czechoslovakia and Germany during World War II. He and his then-new wife settled on the farm in 1948.
He was a former captain in the Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Department, of which he was a charter member, and served 30 years on the township zoning board. He was a former director of the Tiffin Farmers Elevator.
"He wasn't afraid to get involved," his daughter said.
In 1959, he built a pond on the farm, before ponds were popular, and it became a gathering spot for his immediate family - and his wife's extended family and friends.
He and his wife, Mary, married July 6, 1948. She died Dec. 25, 1996.
Surviving are his daughters, Susan Hemminger, Barbara Lescallett, Mary Jane Keller, and Lori Wade; brother, Ralph A. Philipp; seven grandchildren, and two great-grandsons.
The body will be in the Hoffmann-Gottfried-Mack Funeral Home, Tiffin, after 2 p.m. today. Services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Mary Church, Tiffin, of which he was a member.
The family suggests tributes to Community Hospice Care, Tiffin; Autumnwood Care Center Auxiliary, Tiffin; Clinton Township Volunteer Fire Department; Calvert High School Tuition Assistance Fund, Tiffin, or a charity of the donor's choice.