Rev. Phillip Allen Meagher, 56, of Peoria, Ill., died suddenly Saturday, Sept. 17, 2005, at Trinity Medical Center, Rock Island.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday and a visitation will be from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday evening. Both will be held at Peoria Heights Congregational United Church of Christ. Memorials may be made on behalf of his grandchildren at CEFCU in Peoria. Woolsey-Wilton Funeral Home, Peoria, is in charge of the arrangements.
Phillip was born July 8, 1949, in Muscatine, Iowa. He grew up in Rock Island and graduated from Rock Island High School in 1966. He graduated from Northern Illinois University and received a master of divinity degree from Garrett Evangelical Seminary.
For more than 31 years, Phil has proudly and sacrificially served in the ministry. The past seven years his church home was at the Peoria Heights Congregational United Church of Christ, where he led the church as senior pastor. He also served as the founding pastor of Northwest United Methodist Church, where he spent more than 15 years. The Rev. Meagher also served congregations in the United Methodist Churches in Kewanee, Decatur, and Longpoint.
Phil loved his God and his ministry. He deeply loved his wife, his children and grandchildren, classical music, history, reading, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Cubs. His life was a celebration of faithful service, love and trust, and above all, the love of his precious Savior.
Survivors (and spouses) are his wife of 34 years, Pauline Ann Deisenroth Meagher; his children, Laura Millen (Sam), Elizabeth Shea (Greg), Sarah, and John (Theresa); his grandchildren, Lauren, William, Riley Phillip, Elizabeth and Max; his mother, Rebecca; sister, Karen Cavillo; brothers, Dennis, Lindsay and David. He is preceded in death by his father, Francis Meagher, Rock Island.