Doreen Messer Phillips, 50

Doreen Messer Phillips, Stafford County School Board Representative and local real estate broker, died August 15, 2014 in Richmond, VA. After a valiant 37 year struggle with hepatitis, Doreen finally succumbed to the liver disease. She was 50.

Doreen was twice elected as the Hartwood representative to the Stafford County School Board. She initially became involved in public education through the activities of her two daughters in the Stafford County Public School system. While serving the citizens of Hartwood district, Doreen established a reputation for integrity and non-partisan bridge-building. Public education and children were her political passions.

Doreen was the broker and proprietor of the Phillips Home Selling Team and Phillips Property Management Services in Fredericksburg. At the time of her death, she was a contractor at the Marine Corps Network Operations and Security Center in Quantico, VA.

Doreen was born in Maryland in 1963. In 1981, she graduated from Bladensburg Senior High School. In 1986, she graduated from the University of Maryland at College Park. At Maryland, Doreen was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.

Doreen took tremendous pleasure in attending the field hockey games of her daughters. She also enjoyed spending time with family by the water in Talbot County, MD and in Avon, NC.

Doreen was preceded in death by her father, Moses Messer.

She is survived by two daughters, Megan D. Phillips and Grace C. Phillips of Fredericksburg, VA; her mother, Joyce D. Messer, of Spotsylvania, VA; her sister and brother-in-law, Debbie and Ed Parkinson, of Chestertown, MD.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8pm on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Covenant Funeral Service, Fredericksburg.

A service will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Aug.21 at Zion United Methodist Church, Spotsylvania, VA.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Doreen’s name be sent to her favorite charity, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 6731 Arlington Road, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814.