Philip Wayne Mason, age 69, died on August 28, 2024, after a recurrence of melanoma. He will be missed by his family, friends, and many in the Highland community, where he had made his home since 1991.

Phil was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on January 22, 1955, to Amos and Mary Ellen Mason. In high school, while waiting tables at Ken’s, which later became Mazzio’s, he fell in love with the restaurant business. He moved up to managing and opening restaurants for the corporation, and eventually became a franchisee himself. He was a hard worker, never failing to respond when asked to pitch in with community events, from helping the Optimist Club raise money for youth programs, to volunteering with the Jaycees, Chamber of Commerce, his church, and youth sports.

Phil was a doer. He enjoyed playing sports, watching sports, and following sports - just about all sports, playing Over 40 Baseball for twenty years and golf his whole life. He liked to go places and do things. He was a great person to travel with because of his unabashed excitement over seeing and experiencing new things. In France, he once mistakenly ordered a dish that was later translated as “bait.” In his typical, good-natured fashion, he ate half the bucket before deciding this was one piece of France he could do without and pushed it away.

Survivors include his wife Julie, who he met in Muscatine, Iowa while managing a Ken’s; his children, Jeffrey Nathaniel (Meghan), Marilyn Laura, and Joel Thomas; his grandson, Jack, who gave him so much pleasure in recent years; and his brother, Bruce, of Enid, Oklahoma.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father; his sister, Carol Jean Mason; and granddaughter, Magnolia Kate Mason.

A memorial service will be at 11 am on Friday, September 6, at Evangelical United Church of Christ, 2520 Poplar Street, where he regularly attended church for more than twenty years. Visitation will be before the service, at 10 am. Arrangements under the direction of Spengel-Boulanger.

In lieu of flowers, please consider giving a gift in Phil’s memory to either the EvUCC or the Highland High School Baseball Team.