Mississippi is made up of 82 counties with common names like George, Jackson and Caroll, and some of the 82 counties are common names that can be used as someone’s name. That’s exactly what Forrest, more commonly known as Charles, and Nellie Phillips did when naming their children.
Forrest, Scott, Wayne, Perry and Lee are five well-known counties, housing cities like Hattiesburg, Tupelo, Waynesboro and New Augusta. They are also used by Charles and Nellie for their children.
“My name is Forrest Charles Phillips, so that’s where it started,” Charles said. “(After naming the first son Forrest Charles Phillips Jr.,” we named the second son William Scott Phillips after my wife’s father, then the next one was Perry Wayne.
“Someone said, ‘Oh, you’re naming your children after counties,’ and we said, ‘Oh, yeah, I guess so.’ Then my daughter was born and we named her Lee.”
Thankfully, they didn’t use Oktibbeha, Tallahatchie or Tishomingo when it came time to write their children’s name on the birth certificate.
Forrest Charles Phillips Sr. started the trend, then it branched off to his children and grandchildren. Sometimes someone married into the family who unknowingly was a part of the tradition.
Lee Phillips, Charles and Nellie’s daughter, married a man named David Lawrence for Lawrence County, and Charles’ grandson married a woman with the last name Perry for Forrest County’s neighbor. It wasn’t a prerequisite, but it did help to have a Mississippi county in their name when first meeting the family.
“They qualified to be part of our family because they had a county name,” Charles joked.
The Phillips are a close-knit, well-known family in the Pine Belt, and Charles has been a resident of either Purvis or Hattiesburg for his entire life. A graduate of Purvis High School, Charles grew up and lived in Purvis for 21 years, then when he married Nellie, they moved to Hattiesburg to start their family.
The two met at Charles’ family-owned Broadway Drive-In Theater in south Hattiesburg. He was working at the time, either selling tickets, popcorn or peanuts at the entrance, when he spotted his future wife.
“I’m going to find out who that is,” he said. He doesn’t remember which movie was playing that night, but he visibly remembers spotting Nellie with her friends.
“I sweet talked her and we ended up having a relationship,” Charles said.
The two married in 1957 and recently celebrated their 60thanniversary. Shortly thereafter, they started having children and the tradition of naming their kids after Mississippi counties began.
First, there was Forrest Phillips Jr., then William Scott Phillips, then Perry Wayne Phillips and finally their daughter, Lee Phillips.
The thread continued through another generation of Phillips. In July, Charles and Nellie’s grandchild, Forrest Charles Phillips III, had a baby boy and named him Forrest Charles Phillips IV.
In the generation of grandchildren, there are Forrest, Henry Claiborne, Marion Margaret, William Scott Jr., Madison Elizabeth, Jessika Tate, Perry Wayne Jr., Marshall Collins, Hunter Lawrence and Harrison David Lawrence.
Prior to starting his family with Nellie, Charles attended Ole Miss then received his social studies and business degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also minored in education, so he went into the teaching field for a couple of years. He taught at Baxterville and Lumberton, where he also coached for many different sports.
Teaching only lasted three years, though, because Charles opted to go a different career route, which was nearly the opposite of teaching. He began working in the concrete pipe business, where he worked for 50 years.
“It was a great career for me,” Charles said. “Economically, it was a financial decision, and a good one.”
To this day, he works as a substitute teacher for up to four days every week. He takes Thursdays off, though. For a man in his 80s, Charles said he doesn’t just sit around and play cards, because he likes to stay active in the community. Whether it’s substitute teaching or driving cars for car auctions, he’s out and about.
For a number of years he served as an election commissioner in Forrest County.
If their lucky, students at Hattiesburg, Petal, Lamar County and Marion County will see Charles in his or her classroom.
On the side, Charles coached various ages of baseball, basketball, football and track for 30 years off and on, and worked as a sports official for 50 years. While teaching in Lumberton before he was married, he coached many different sports for Baxterville and Lumberton. Then when he had kids, he coached youth baseball at all levels. From Dixie Youth to American Legion, he followed his sons up the ranks.
Sometimes, though, he wasn’t their coach, which led to a fun family rivalry.
“I had sons who I felt like I needed to coach,” he said. “I didn’t coach them for the entirety of baseball because I didn’t like the situations where, ‘The only reasons his sons made all-stars was because his daddy was the coach,’ so my sons were on a different team that I coached.”
Charles said it made for interesting conversation at the dinner table, but looking back on it, he was more competitive than his sons were when they played against each other.
Without the help of Charles being their coach, his sons made the all-star teams on their own, too.
Charles’ son, Forrest Jr., followed in his footsteps as a referee. Forrest can be seen at area high school football, basketball and baseball games throughout the school year.
Charles and Forrest have not only started a tradition of naming their children after Mississippi counties, but also of what a strong family looks like. They’ve set a good example for their kids and grandchildren.
“We just work together, serve together, play together and go to church together,” Charles said when asked about his marriage with Nellie. “Our family is really strong and we don’t have any miscommunication. We’re just a happy family.”
