Ferguson,+Phil

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FERGUSON PHILLIP ROBERT FERGUSON ARMY LT. COL. (Ret.) On October 1, 2010. Beloved husband of Sandra M. Ferguson. He is also survived by three children. Alicia, John and Philippa and a host of other relatives and friends. Family will receive friends on Thursday, October 7 from 6 to 9 p.m. wake services at POPE FUNERAL HOMES, 5538 Marlboro Pike and on Friday, October 8 from 10 until time of services at 11 a.m. at Gethsemane United Methodist Church, 910 Addison Rd. South, Seat Pleasant, MD.

A letter to his wife, Sandra from Thomas Kosmo. Dear Sandra, Delay writing this letter violates my explicit promise "I'll write you right away". It's been tough to sit down after so often trying to write about Phil. He meant so much to us all, whom I share the sadness writing this letter. Phil's followers want my note to say something you hear coming from us all. We remember that to Phil we were his then-golden lieutenants. Phil's leadership was the one that made us want to shine. It was wartime, we had all been drafted and somehow figured that going to war as an officer would have more rewards than just squeaking by – no profile, little impact, accepting less for our brothers-in-arms when we could give them more as their lieutenants. This view we held vaguely in common, but it clarified when we hit Viet Nam. Sandra, against what historians tell, we had great young Americans serving with us. They did everything we asked even though they knew the whole war was a cock-up. We were their age yet had to "lead" them with our same level of maturity as theirs. That made us intermediaries between them and the Gods, like the CO, XO and Phil. They saw Phil the stronghold of leadership strict and benevolent. He was our highest trustee of what was supposed to be right and wrong for them. Lieutenants joined the troops believing that our elders were our betters. Phil knew that and so he acted like a loving parent to us all. All Phil had to signal us was what behavior was expected and what was out-of-bounds. We fell in just per our trust in him. "Trust" as the essence of leadership – Phil taught us that. It's been with us since we left Viet Nam and has given us intangible confidence to follow whatever the Good Lord orders us to do in life. Whenever I take my students and staff to the Met Opera, I mention Phil's sweet lyric tenor as the sound of a pure and powerful man, as he is ever to us. Thomas Kosmo, Mibars 1970-1971