Phillip B. McCowan

Dear loved ones, Phillip lived 49 beautiful years. This page was created for you all to share your warm words of support with us and with one another. Through our collective love and additions to this site, Phillip will live on forever.  We encourage you to share stories or memories and photos of moments lived with Phillip as we honor and pay tribute to his life.  We also ask that if you would just like to send well wishes to the family and/or wish Phillip a peaceful rest. please sign in the tributes section of this page so the family knows you stopped by to pay your respects.

Phillip Bernard McCowan was born to Frances and Thomas McCowan on May 4, 1971 in Los Angeles. He couldn’t wait to be a part of the action in the world so he came on the scene a month early. Phillip was a rambunctious, inquisitive little kid, he had a wild imagination and developed an early love of spelling and reading, mostly because he was jealous that everyone except him could read. He was soon  spelling and repeating every word he saw and heard anywhere. He spelled and read everything. After learning his name, he read words on anything he could get his hands on, books, street signs, store fronts and even labels and instructions on food packages. No one could have a conversation without him spelling every word that was said. He was like a little robot that needed constant input, it was so annoying.

By the time Phillip completed elementary and Junior High School he had discovered diving and water polo, he joined the diving team and loved it until his cousin hit his head while attempting a dive and Phillip developed severe diver’s ear. That was it for diving, so he thought he would try his hand at Boogie boarding but that fascination did not last. He also loved to roller skate at the local skating rink, but it was skateboarding that stole his heart, he loved adventure and that board took him places, both near and far. He skated everywhere, to school, the mall, family and friends houses, even as far as the beach which could take him a couple of hours with all of his detours. When it got dark, he and his skateboard would head back on the bus.

Phillip developed an exceptional work ethic early on. When he was 12 years old, not even old enough to get a workers permit, he began a friendship with the local donut shop owner. For a couple hours in the evening, he swept the floor, cleaned tables and dumped trash. He was so proud of his “job” even though he was only getting paid in donuts, which he loved at that age. He simply respected an honest day’s work. That work ethic was evident in his first paid side job as a paperboy. You could catch him many mornings before school delivering the morning paper on his skateboard. Since that job delivering the morning paper, he always kept steady work. He worked at the Garden shop at the local Sears, Taco Bell, where he developed his love of the fast food chain. He tested brakes for General Motors, refueled airplanes at LAX. He drove the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus in Los Angeles. He also drove semi-trucks throughout the Western United States for a time. Phillip was even a sanitation worker before his final job working as a driver for the State Hospital of California.

Driving was in his blood for sure, if he was not driving for work, he was driving on camping trips and getaways of any kind. He used to say, “I work so that I can live, because I don’t want to live to work”. He loved traveling as often as he could and tasting new and exotic foods. He also was an avid and passionate Dodgers and Raiders fan, but it was his membership in the Raider Nation was what he was most vocal about and protective of. He enjoyed rooting for his teams and was regularly in attendance at Dodgers and Raider games. He frequently traveled to Dodger Stadium and Raiders games in Oakland throughout the seasons.

After a blind date finally went right in February 2001, Phillip met Cherese Lavon Bailey. Their life partnership began when they were married 5 years later on February 18, 2006. He now had a life partner to share all his adventures with. They had many adventures together but the biggest was to come on February 3, 2002. Of course one of football’s biggest fans would have a son born on Super Bowl Sunday. He would always say that he could not have planned it better and his son was meant to be a football fan. He was awkward but he took his new role as a father seriously. He and Cherese had a new passenger on their adventures on the road.

Phillip was a kind, honest, loyal and hardworking man who earned the respect of his coworkers and peers, friends and family. He had a great love of family, the one he was born to and the ones he made along the way. Family meant everything to him and was always top of mind. It’s what drove him, how he planned his activities, holidays, celebrations and vacations. A family man, through and through. He loved getting together and spending time with family and bringing family together. He often said, nothing was more important. Phillip had many friends and associates but the lifelong friends he made in high school were always family to him and remained very close to him throughout his life. He was happiest when he was surrounded by friends and family and if the Raiders were playing, well that was just icing on the cake for him. He was particularly fond of trash talk and trading jabs when it came to his football team, sports in general, or anything else. He was also a fan of the weird and bizarre so he would spend countless hours watching crazy t.v. shows and would call someone on the phone and tell them all about it all the while cracking up. He had a hearty, infectious laugh that was impossible to ignore. He had a vivacious spirit and a kind heart and was always ready to lend a helping hand or share his wealth of knowledge on any number of subjects.

He was an important person to many, everyone who knew him is mourning his passing. What then is the measure of the man? Is it the job he had, how much money was in his account? Maybe the treasures he possessed, the house he lived in or perhaps the car that he drove? For Phillip none of these is true. His measure was on display all of his life and his family and friends saw it in the things he cared about, how he treated his family and the things he did for others without asking for anything in return. His true measure was in the lives he touched and how he is remembered by those who love him.

Rest Easy Phillip, your legacy of goodness and mercy will live on and never be forgotten.