GALLERY: Emery County Progress says good-bye to Phil Fauver

By Patsy Stoddard

It is with great sadness the Emery County Progress announces the death of our star reporter Phil Fauver. He has been with the Progress for several years. He passed away on Friday from cancer.
Phil loved to cover anything dealing with history. The historical society events were among his favorites. His Feature Series on Historical Society events took second place in the Utah Better newspaper contest in March. At the annual cowboy poetry night which Phil loved, the Historical Society honored Phil last August for his work in preserving and recording the history of Emery County.
I so appreciate the work he did for our newspaper. He loved to write stories and take pictures.
He always volunteered to go anywhere they were serving food or refreshments. The Eagle Scout Banquet each year was always a great event with speakers and food and he was always ready to attend.
Phil would come into the office and tell me, I signed you up for a steak at the Republican Party Dinner. He loved the Republican party events and he would like to cover the Democratic events too so he could, ‘keep an eye on them’ he would tell me.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I will miss Phil Fauver. He was very active in community events. He was active in his church.
 They always had a booth at the county fair and he never missed a parade in each of the cities where he walked the parade route with the Republican Party banners throwing candy or handing out water.
Sometimes when he would stop by the office to download photos, I would ask him where he was heading next. He always had somewhere to be and something going on. He was very involved with the families that he home taught. He was out ministering to those in need.
He was great at re-gifting. One time I gave him a gift certificate to a local grocery store for Christmas. About a month after Christmas, he said he had given the card to someone who needed it more. He was very kind and giving.
He was always learning new things. He was up on all the latest computers and cameras. He came into the office one day and he was so excited about his recorder that would plug into the computer and turn the words into text. He loved all the latest gadgets.
Phil was a long time member of the Emery County Economic Development Council. He would listen to the presentations for loans and would sometimes vote no just because everyone else was voting yes. What an asset he was to his community.
He could convince his wife Marilyn that he needed a new camera so he could take better pictures for the paper.
Phil was also very honest. One day he came in and he said, ‘What happened to your hair.” Of course, I didn’t think it looked that bad, but he said, ‘I like it much better when you curl it.’ So after that Alice,(my assistant) and I would joke about our hair. If it was a day Phil was due by, we tried to make sure our hair was curled. He wasn’t scared to tell you, that you looked like something the cats drug in. I loved that about him.
Every year he grew a big garden and took much pride and enjoyment in giving it all away.
One year he gave me seeds which he called castor beans. With a name like beans I thought they were beans that would grow and we would eat them. But, it turns out they were very unique plants that grew several large red flowers on them. I asked Phil exactly what part of the castor bean you were supposed to eat and he said, ‘no don’t eat them they are a flower.’ I have loved those flowers. I planted them everywhere. He brought me some more seeds last fall and I have planted them at our new office in Huntington.
I won’t be able to look at those flowers without thinking of Phil. I won’t be able to look at pumpkins without being reminded of Phil and him loading his porch with his homegrown pumpkins each year and inviting everyone to stop by and pick a pumpkin off the porch. He usually only had a few stragglers left when Halloween arrived.
It’s amazing the richness that other people add to our lives. How much do we appreciate what each life brings and how precious each soul is? We don’t know the amount of time we have on this earth, I hope I can spend my days being half the person Phil Fauver is.
I have been truly blessed and I have grown so much as a person from having this great man in my life. My world has been happier with Phil Fauver in it. The joy he has brought me, the great example he has been of a true friend will never be forgotten.
The great example of being a life-time learner and to always keep moving forward no matter your age. I am a better person because I have known and loved Phil Fauver.