Phillip Reed Long

Phillip Reed Long passed away on November 29th after surviving a heart attack, succumbed to kidney failure.

Phil was born in Lexington, MO on September 23rd, 1935, to Wilma Mae and Otto Fobian Long Jr. They moved to Kansas City, MO in 1947 where Phil later graduated from Southeast High School in 1953, then got his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and English at Westminster College in Fulton, MO where he met and married Ann Sullivan. After college, he joined the Marine Corps and was accepted into flight school, then became a jet fighter pilot in 1957. After his commission with the Marine Corp, Phil went back to school and graduated Cum Laude with a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Kansas in 1961. Phil got a job with IBM in 1962 and after 33 years of sales & executive sales management roles, he retired from IBM.

Phil is survived by his wife of 35 years, Donna Long of Stillwater, OK, and his four kids William R Long of Lenexa KS, Kathryn A Jones from Appleton WI, Richard S Long of Sun City West AZ, Sandra L Yoon of Vista, CA, 10 grandkids, and 9 great-grandkids. Preceding him in death was his parents, Wilma Mae Long (2010) & Otto Fobian Long Jr. (2003), brother Stephen Long (1949), and granddaughter, Samatha Ann Smith (1987).

Phil loved to play golf and he and Donna were members at Blue Hills CC in Kansas City and Bermuda Dunes CC in Palm Desert where they made numerous lifelong friendships and memories. Phil was exceptionally witty and love to make people laugh. He combined his wit and passion for golf as a contributing writer to At the Lake Magazine where he provided monthly golf articles under the pen name, Peter Rufus. Phil also loved his airplanes. He built scaled models of the planes he flew in the Marine Corp, owned a Grumman American 4-seater for many years, and was a warbird tour guide at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Later in life, Phil thoroughly enjoyed being a volunteer elementary school teacher in Palm Desert, teaching children reading & arithmetic.

Memorial services will be held at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, February 3, 2024, at 2:00p.m.  The reception and Celebration of Life will be held at the Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, Kansas immediately following the memorial services.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Palm Springs Air Museum. Call with questions at 760-778-6262 or online link below.

https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/product/donation/. Enter Donation Amount, then click Add to Cart, then click Proceed to Checkout. In the Billing Details section on right please add “Phillip R Long Memorial” in the Additional Information section/Order notes.