Emma Cleo Phillips Bynum Keating

August 18, 2017

Emma Cleo Phillips Bynum Keating, age 92, died peacefully at home on August 15, 2017. Cleo as she was known by most of her family and childhood friends was born March 8, 1925, in McCullough, Alabama, the daughter of Della Walker Phillips Albritton and Joseph Thomas Phillips.

Her family moved to Nokomis, she spent her childhood in close proximity to Poarch, Alabama, where her Creek Indian family originated. God first then family was her life goal.

Emma was first married to Meador Bynum they lived in Laurel, MS and had four children; Evelyn, Toxie Carl, Faye Marie and Paul Bynum.

During the mid- 1950’s, after a divorce, Emma was employed as a waitress in many of well-known restaurants of downtown Pensacola where she met her beloved husband of 55 years, John Keating. They married September 12, 1957. They had three children Ann Marie, Catherine Theresa, and Karen Lorraine Keating.  he loved her family. She made memorable times with her children, grand-children and great-grandchildren. At family reunions Emma’s coconut cake was  famous. She enjoyed gardening and liked to grow flowers especially gardenias and roses. All who knew her will sorely miss her and her sweet spirit. She was preceded in death by her husband John J. Keating, a son Paul Bynum, two of her sisters Etta Mae Phillips and Mary Virginia Phillips Ealy Dorman.

She is survived by her two sisters Pauline J. Phillips Parker and Patricia Ann Albritton Smillie, her children Evelyn Bynum Everidge, Toxie Carl Bynum(Sandra), Faye Marie Bynum Gaspard Boutwell (Cleve), Ann Keating Thames(Chuck), Catherine Keating Siewert, and Karen Keating Hall (Tim), her grandchildren Ronnie, Michael, and Donna Doebler; Karen, Becky and Yancey Gaspard; Robert, Ben, and Lydia Bynum; John and Joseph Hall; Zachary and Benjamin Thames; 23 great grandchildren and 6 great-great grandchildren.

Special thanks to Minnie Hassell and Myrtis Nims for lovingly caring for Emma Cleo in her final years. The family will receive friends at Woodbine Methodist Church, 5200 Woodbine Rd., Pace, FL on Saturday, August 19, 2017 from 1:00pm-2:00pm. Funeral service will follow immediately at 2:00pm with  internment at Elizabeth Chapel Cemetery, 8008 Chumuckla Hwy., Pace, FL.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Obituaries