Buchanan
Funeral Service
Oklahoma City, OK
(permission granted)
How do you sum up a life of 71 years lived?
It is not easy because there are so many wonderful
memories, but I am going to try.
Dan was a man who deeply loved God and his family and
friends.
He loved his wife Carol of 31 years, his only
son Adam Phillips, stepdaughter Terrie Gowdy Batson and
his wonderful grandchildren Carson Phillips, Mariah
Gowdy Phillips and Jaden Batson and all his wonderful
family and friends.
Dan loved to spend quality time with his son Adam
whether it was to go hunting in South Dakota waiting for
the big buck or at the end of the day enjoying a big
steak, talking. Dan was so proud of the man he had
become. And when I say steak… Dan loved his steak… I
mean really, he loved steak like all the time… like
Monday through Friday.
He also loved his stepdaughter Terrie and was so proud
of her. And always loved to help his children in any way
he could. One time when Terrie was 13 trying to learn to
first swallow a pill she said “I can’t do it!” Then Dan
told her he would pay her $20.00 if she would swallow it
in the next 3 minutes. Her eyes got real big and she
said “Ok, but give me 5 minutes.” Dan said “No you only
have 3 minutes total and that is about to expire.”
Terrie looked at that $20.00 and Dan said you better
hurry time is running out. Her eyes got even bigger and
she took that pill and swallowed it in record time.
Dan was quite the jokester too. One time when he was at
work with a co-worker in their office he had some green
slime in his hand and was sitting in front of his
friend’s desk and then he put his hand up to his nose
and pretended to sneeze and opened his hand and the
green slime oozed all the way down on the desk which
looked like he sneezed on his friend’s desk and his
friend screamed and jumped back in his chair and
screamed “Oh my gosh, what in the world?” Dan said he
laughed so hard it hurt… we still laugh at that story
today.
Dan loved seeing his Dad Ray and Nana and sisters Linda,
Karen, Melva and brother-in-law Steve. They all enjoyed
seeing each other while in South Dakota and would catch
up on stories and eat and laugh.
He also enjoyed visiting with his sister Donna via cell
phone since she lives in Alaska and hearing all her
stories about the moose and wildlife that would come in
her front yard.
He loved spending holidays with her sister Charlotte and
seeing all his nieces and nephews, pigging out and
eating cake… Dan had a sweet tooth even though he said
he didn’t like sweets.
At home he would take a cookie and pick off a piece and
put the cookie back because after all… he “didn’t like
sweets”. We would ask him, did you eat part of this
cookie and he would say no I don’t like sweets… he was
always doing and saying that and we would laugh because
we knew he did it.
Dan loved going to the lake on the boat with his
brother-in-law and sister-in-law Jeff and Debra and all
his nieces and nephews, spending the day on the water.
Dan loved to be on the water whether in a boat or at the
beach.
He loved when the whole family would get together every
Thanksgiving and Dan would always bring the ham. He
loved cooking the ham, and everyone would say it wasn’t
Thanksgiving until Dan cut the ham.
In fact Dan loved cooking, especially meat dishes. He
was always looking up new recipes to try and was a
really good cook. And it was a good thing too because I
could not cook. We ate a lot of spaghetti before I met
Dan.
Dan loved planting, gardening and going to his “man
mall” home depot.
He also loved his 3 grandchildren very much.
He loved going to Carson’s games and matches to cheer
him on whether it was baseball, football or wrestling.
Carson would watch for his Papa and smile so proud of
himself when he won and so was Dan. And when Carson grew
older, Dan would love teaching him about investing since
he came from finance background. And when Carson
finished his degree at OSU Papa was smiling again of the
news, so proud of him.
He loved to play dress up with Mariah and she would put
a Hannah Montana wig on him and would take pictures and
we would all laugh…..still have that picture on my
dresser. Mariah would love to play with her Papa in the
pool and would get on his back like he was a dolphin and
they would hold their breath together and go under water
at the same time over and over again. Both were like
fishes. And as Mariah grew older he was so taken back
with her beautiful voice as we watched her solo
performance in vocals. Papa was so moved and so proud.
Dan loved to play catch football in the backyard with
Jaden. And at Easter loved watching Jaden run to grab
his eggs to show Papa his collection, always made him
smile and proud.
And last but not least he loved the family fur baby
Snowdrop. She always loved Papa so very much and every
night Dan would say “Are you ready to watch the news?”
And then Snowdrop would run and jump up in the recliner
with him and lay her head on his arm.
Dan was very dedicated to his family and worked very
hard so they could go on many vacations to enjoy, always
wanting to spend time with each other and relax. He also
always enjoyed giving them advice to help them pursue
their dreams and meet their goals.
Dan also had a compassionate heart and was always there
to help his friends whether they needed financial help,
or encouragement or to just listen.
So when I think of Dan, my husband, my “Honey Bunny” I
see the love of my life, my soul mate, my best friend. I
see a man who gave love unconditionally, who always had
a loving heart for his family and his friends. He gave
love, he received love.
As his wife I could have not taken this journey with Dan
and would not have had to be here today to see my heart
broke in half along with everyone in the family and
friends but then we would have missed a great love of
family and friends.
And for me, his wife, I would have missed out on the
best 31 years of my life. I love you Babe forever and a
day.
So when we look up to Heaven today we say Dan, Babe, Dad
and Papa we all love you so very much. So now you go
enjoy all the glory, enjoy walking and breathing easy,
keep planting your garden and enjoy your many friends
and family as we have enjoyed you.
