April 14, 1950 - February 5, 2013
BATAVIA: Phillip Edward Jenkins passed away Tuesday, February 5th, in Batavia Ohio. Phil was born April 14th 1950 in Canton, Ohio to Donna Mae (Featheringham) Jenkins and the late Carl Eugene Jenkins.
Phil was a 1968 graduate of Newark Senior High School where he excelled in football and baseball. He then attended Ohio State University and University of Cincinnati . He was owner operator of Jenkins Tire Company in Batavia Ohio.
Phil is survived by his wife of 40 years, Margaret (Patyrak) Jenkins; Loving father to sons. Patrick (Catherine) Jenkins, William (Rachel) Jenkins and Michael Jenkins; grandfather of Charlotte, Charles, and Luke; Loving brother to Don (Kathy) Jenkins of Nashport, Ohio Leonard Jenkins of Newark, Ted Jenkins of Newark; and Pamela Gill of Newark; many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends; his uncle Dale Featheringham of Bergholz, Ohio; and aunt Joann Walls of Akron, Ohio; were also very special to him.
Phillip will be loved and missed very much.
Mike Kelley
Phil will be missed greatly by the NHS Class 68. He was a great football player at Newark High and was a class act guy, well liked by everyone in our class. I am so glad I was able to talk with him the last class reunion. Prayers go out to his wife Margaret and family. He will be missed. RIP PHIL.
Roger McDonald
In the summer of 1969, home from college, either Dan McElroy or Tim Powell called me up to ask if I wanted to join a baseball team that played at the old park behind the YMCA. Phil was the team's catcher. I had not played organized baseball for a few years, but decided to give it a go. The team lacked a left-handed pitcher, so Tim mentioned to the coach that I had pitched back in Little League. I had warmed the bench adequately until then, but he decided to give me a start. As Phil was strapping on his catcher's gear prior to the game, he turned to me and said:
Phil: "Let's go over our signals to make sure we don't screw up."
Me: "What signals?"
Phil: "You know, one for the fastball, two for the curve, three for a slider if you have one, etc."
Me: "I don't have a slider; for that matter, I don't have a curve."
Phil: "You don't throw a curve?"
Me: "No. I have one pitch."
Phil stared at me for what seemed a very long time; then he sighed, and said: "Okay. I am going to wiggle my fingers and you are going to nod and shake and maybe we can make those guys think you have some pitches. Let's hope they don't figure this out too soon."
So Phil wiggled his digits and I nodded and shook and we did okay. On the bench between innings, Phil laughed and said, "You just float the ball up there. I can't understand why they aren't killing us. Keep it up." The opposing pitcher was the real thing, though, and we lost 1 or 2 to nothing. But in that long-ago summer, I did learn that in this life, win or lose, every team needs a catcher like Phil Jenkins.
Dave Froberg
Back in the early days, a friend of mine (can't remember who it was LOL!) and I decided to sleep out in my backyard. So, sound asleep in my sleeping bag when all of a sudden I was soaking wet. Someone had turned on the hose and stuck it inside my sleeping bag. I decided to spend the rest of the night in the house and my friend wen't home. My bedroom was on the second floor of our house and I heard some voices below. It was Jeff English, Dan Haycook, Phil Jenkins and someone else. They were sneaking around trying to see if I was still in the backyard. I quickly found a metal trash can about 5 gallons worth, filled it with water and when the "gang" got under my bedroom window, I let 'em have it! Phil took the brunt of it, and they scattered like rats. Phil was so mad, he picked up a handful of rocks out of the neighbors driveway and threw them up against our house.
That was a long time ago. Jeff has been gone for awhile and now Phil is gone too. He was a great guy and will be dearly missed. All my prayers, sympathies and condolences to Margaret and the rest of Phil's family.
Spencer Null
Went to a college reunion several years at Hanover College in Indiana and I was standing with a bunch of friends on the sidelines of the football game, when I heard someone shout my name. I turned around expecting to see another college classmate, but instead it turned out to be Phil and Margeret. Their son played on the football team. It was great to see both of them. It brought back a lot of memories. They were both wonderful people.