Art was definitly an inspiration to the community and the people in it. I remeber Art joking around with me during high school by pulling out his hands cuffs and acting like he was going to arrest me. Art always greeted me and asked how I was doing and how my family was,I got to know him through school. I also seeked out advice from him because I was considering a degree in Criminal Justice. I thought I would ask Art about this degree choice. Well he didnt only tell me that i would be a great assist to any program, but also gave adivce that it can be a tough career to go into. On several occasians he invivted me to do ride alongs and he would show me the side of policing. Well Evansville has lost a great servant. Art you will always have a place in my heart for helping me make a decision to become a police officer. Art I will remeber the smile and the willingness to help anyone. I will try to be an officer like Art Phillips. I will be praying for Pat and family. May the lord Jesus Bless you in your time of grieve and may he heal your wounds. You will be missed.
Thank you Art for all the commitment to a community.
Tyler Marenes

Rest in peace my friend. What a shock. Working with Art was a pure pleasure. Arriving at EVPD to work on their squad cars, I would be greeted with a hot cup of coffee and some kind of smart comment before the day would begin. Lunch was always an interesting time. It seems that everyone in Evansville knew him and he had time for everyone of them while his lunch was getting cold. While working there, Art got interested in the Amateur radio equipment that I have in my car. He was so interested that he studied and passed the test for his license. I will miss his calls on the radio, the cellphone and his friendship. My condolences to Pat and his family. 73 my friend..FA #2

They say a man is judged by what others think of him. Seeing all the messages regarding Art Phillips he was one heck of a man! The citizens of Evansville were blessed to have him both as a professional and personal friend. I remember when our son was 16 and had some driving issues in which Art was the officer involved. He treated our son with respect and dignity and tried to instill better driving habits. All of our sons friends knew that Art would treat them with respect and courtsey whenever he had occasion to work with them. And when our son called last night to see if the news of Art's passing was true, the first words out of his mouth were that he would be attending the visitation. That 16 year old kid still remembers how he was treated, and he is now 37. Art will be missed by a whole community and beyond -- God has taken a very special angel home.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family. I grew up in Evansville and have a story of Art that I tell all of the time. I am much wiser now with age and can tell this story and laugh. It was a tradition in Evansville to throw water balloons at each other in the park and the end of school. I was 16 and thought that Art was a guy named Phil. Art was in his personal vehicle at the park. I threw a water baloon at his car and then... Theresa pull over your vehicle. I received my first ticket for $89.00 from Art for throwing of missles prohibited. Needless to say I never participated in throwing baloons again. I laugh now cause' who throws a baloon at a cop, especially Art who knew all and gets away with it. My first tickets name will never be forgotten and I have to laugh when I think of Art giving it to me. He was a wonderful officer and wonderful for the Evansville community. Well respected by myself and many. He will be missed.

Art was truly one of the "good guys". He was a gentleman at all times. He cared about our community deeply and will be sadly missed by all. Students respected him which is a big thing in these times. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Pat and his entire family.
Evansville is a better place because of him!!!

My condolences go out to Pat and his family.. To his sister Mary,Tom,Zach,Amanda...
Art will be missed; He was an amazing person/officer. He will be deeply missed by many but never forgotten. The Evansville community will not be the same with out Art watching over our kids walk to school making sure they get to school safe. All I can think and say is "THE EVANSVILLE COMMUNITY WILL NEVER FOR GET SUCH A WONDERFUL POLICE OFFICE AS ART WAS!!!!"

My prayers go out to Pat, who was not only his wife but his best friend. Art was a great man! The little things he said, at just the right time, meant a lot. Saturday, on Labor Day Weekend I worked with him on the boat patrol and I remember him saying he had taken an 2 extra days to give himself a five day weekend. He wanted nothing more than "some time to spend with Pat". He also said he couldn't wait to get home, sit back, and relax while eating some pork loin she was home cooking. He talked of his wife in a way that made no question she was his everything. Just one more thing he did that made him a genuine, caring person. Art trained me in firearms at the Police Academy, and I was lucky enough to work with him on the Rock River Safety Patrol. We had many laughs when we attended training in Appleton this year, and many long talks out in the boat. He was never above giving guidance, sharing his knowledge, debating to see "if you really know your stuff", or flat out telling you how it is. Most importantly, he was not above giving a compliment at just the right time. He meant what he said, and was observant enough to notice the little things. A congratulating e-mail, text msg., or voice mail was right there if he was not able to say it himself. That meant a lot; especially from the "big, tough guy that means business" [stomp foot, cross arms, stern look, and hold back grin]. The big guy always said, "if you do the right thing and make good choices, you will never be in a situation you can not make right." With that, I looked up to him. He is the definition of community policing. I do not know another Police Officer with as much respect as Art commands. The people of Evansville quickly noticed they had someone special looking out for their interest. I respected him, looked up to him, will miss him!

Oh, no.
All I can think is, thank heavens we had him as long as we did. His presence at the schools and kind firmness with the students helped make our schools a pleasant place to be.

What a huge loss to our community. And to his family- thank you for sharing such a wonderful man with all of us. We are in mourning along with you. We will miss seeing him at the pancakes breakfats at the Masonic hall...

Evansville should name the new children's park after him and in honor of his service.

To quote Patton: "It is foolish to mourn the men we lose. Rather, we should thank God that men such as these ever lived."

5302 you will be trully missed!!!! I learned alot from you when I worked under you, and all of the EVPD memories will be with me forever. Rest in Peace Art! My thoughts and prayers are with Pat, Mary, Tom, Amanda, and Zach, and the rest of the family!

Art will be so missed in this community. He was a huge part of Evansville. Everyone will miss his warming smile. I don't think I have ever heard him say a negative thing about anyone. The EPD will never ever be the same. No one will ever fill Art's shoes. Our condolences to his wife and all his family.
The Leick Family

Sad news. I didn't know him, never met him, but it's obvious the positive impact he had on those who did. It's always hard to lose one of the good guys. My thoughts to his family, friends, and brothers in arms.

My condolences to Art's family. He made a difference in all of Evansville. We are all a little better for having had him in our lives.

My prayers to Art's wife, Cheryl Beth, and all of the family. What a huge loss for Evansville. Art was a friend, and co worker with my dad on the department. He is going to be missed by all who know him.
Cherish the memories of Art in what ever capacity you knew him, look up to him for his kind gentleness, and the friend that he was to all of Evansville.
God Bless to all of the family.

I trained under him at firearms for two separate academies. I remember well, what he and the other instructors taught me. I remember how Art conducted traffic control during the funeral procession of the corrections officer who died in an accident earlier this year, and he helped coordinate a peaceful afternoon for all the officers who were there.
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I know he will receive those same honors.
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My thoughts and prayers to Art's family, and also to the Evansville Police Department.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to Pat, Mary, Tom, Zach, Amanda and the rest of the family. Art was a wonderful member of the Evansville community and a fun guy to be around. Lt. Sunshine, I will miss your "smiling face" in the morning and FOX News blaring from your office. 5302, we will all miss you. ~ "Dougie" and Family.

Art was a very down to earth nice guy. He loved Evansville and the people in it. It's a great loss. I will miss him calling me L.A. My prayers to Pat, Mary, Tom, Zach, Amanda, all of Art's family and everyone else that was touched by Art.

Wow...I just got online and saw this. Art was a joy to work with and was always respectful of the dispatchers at Rock County 911. My prayers are with his family. Rock County lost one of it's finest.

Artie was and is a true Gentleman, Officer, Husband, Rolemodel, Leader, and above all the kind of friend that we all would hope to be. I can't believe I am not going to see him pull into the dealership with that big grin on his face and flip on the patrol car lights, Get out and say 'we gotta talk!'ever again. The world is a better place because Art Phillips was in it.Every life he touched is blessed because of him. I am heartbroken and torn apart because of the loss. I am also honored and humbled that I had the chance to call him my friend.
Pat, Our prayers go out to you and your family, may the Lord Jesus Christ comfort you with your loss.
Lt. Art Phillips, I love ya man,thanks for the honor of calling you my friend.

Art was a friend and mentor to young and young at heart. He will be deeply missed by all. Our thoughts and prayers go to you Pat, and the entire family. Evansville has lost a great man!

This was a shock when I heard the bad news.I've know Art what seems like forever. He and I were on the Evansville Fire Dept..All he knew was to help people and try and make them laugh. Art will be sadly missed...My prayers and condolinces go out to Pat and the Phillips Family

Art was a good person who always helped out with the community. I worked just a few years with Art. He was a great person who will be missed. My thoughts and prayers to the family and officers..

Arty's big heart just gave out...we will sadly miss him! My thoughts and prayers go to Pat and the whole Phillips family. God speed.

My heartfelt condolences to Pat and all of Arts family. I've known Art since we ran track against each other in high school and ended up in the same Police Academy class. Art took on new part time job with me as and officer on the Rock River Safety Patrol and was alway a laugh a minute. Art I miss ya already, Forever FA#1

My sincere sympathies to his family, the department, and the community.

Very sad!!!

Art's brotherly love will truly be missed. I can't think of a person who is more of a gentleman. He always greeted me with a very firm handshake and always inquired how my family was doing. I always looked up to Art because of his strong morals and great sense of humor. Art will truly be missed but never forgotten.

I am sorry to hear of the loss to the Evansville family AND to the family of Art.

My prayers ro to Pat and the rest of the Phillips family, Art was always a human being 1st, Police Officer 2nd in his professional career and was just a plain gentleman whether he was in uniform or not. Art was always helping, volunteering to make the Evansville Community better, by serving on the Eavansville Fire Dept for a number of years, serving the Evansville EMS and the other community boards and services already mentioned. Evansville was lucky to have a kind, gentle person such as Art, it must be true that the Lord only takes the Good ones young. Our prayers are with you Pat.

As a past Evansville resident I grew up to know Art. All through my high school years I spoke with him about becoming an officer and as our track coach he would always be posed the theoretical legal question.... and he would laugh. Art was and still will be a great man in my mind. He encouraged me to pursue my goal and I find myself now in Savannah Ga with the police department here. On a visit home in June I ran into Art. He gave me his card and included his home, work and cell phone number if I ever had any questions or had to talk about any stresses of the job. He cared greatly for his community and the people in it. Today the community lost a great man and officer, I have lost a great mentor and friend. My thoughts and prayers are with Pat and his family, god bless.

Our hearts are broken. He was one of the good ones, great person, great police officer. Great advocate for the community's kids, serving on the school board. He was always the professional. We will miss him very much.

I am stricken with grief at the loss of Art Phillips. There was no better person than he.
Art was a gentle giant, friend to all. He will be greatly missed and we will all mourn his loss for years to come. The legacy he left behind is in how he set an example is to be kind to all, live well and do good things with your life.

As a police officer in Milton, and former part-time officer in Evansville, this is heartbraking news. Art was my first supervisor and training officer, and I considered him a friend since I had started in Evansville in 1992. Art and I served on common law enforcement committees within the county. I will deeply miss those opportunities to be around Art. He was witty, and humorous and always worth a thousand chuckles. Beyond that, his law enforcement knowledge was vast, and I relied on him often as somebody to "bounce" issues off of. He was also quick to help our department out by sitting on interview panels for new officers, which was a testament to the respect I and others held for Art's professional judgement. My thoughts and prayers go out to Pat, and his family. Today I lost a good friend, and Rock County lost a great person.

I knew Art and was shocked to hear the news. Even now I don't think it really sank in. My condolences to his family and co-workers. The world seems gloomier now without him in it. He will be missed.

Wow! This is a huge loss to Evansville. God Bless to Art's entire family!

Art was a HUGE member of this community and he affected everybody's lives one way or another. There is not one person whose life that this man has touched who could say a bad thing about him. He will be deeply missed by all. Our condolences go out to Pat and the rest of his family. Our prayers are with you.

The Hay Family