Carthage civic leader, historic preservation champion Pat Phelps dead at 84

 

Longtime Carthage and area civic leader John O. "Pat" Phelps died Sunday at age 84.

Phelps, who served on the Carthage R-9 Board of Education, Missouri Southern State University Board of Governors and was a champion of historic preservation, was a recipient of the Richard M. Webster Citizen of the Year Award from Carthage Chamber of Commerce in 2005 and was inducted into the Carthage Hall of Heroes in 2020. He and his wife Carolyn served as grand marshals of the annual Carthage Maple Leaf Parade in 2012.

(Pat Phelps after his induction into the Carthage Hall of Heroes in November 2020 at Fair Acres YMCA. Photo from Carthage Hall of Heroes Facebook page)

In 2020, during its kickoff of a fundraising drive for a new performing arts center, the Carthage R-9 Board of Education voted to name the facility the "John O. and Carolyn Phelps Performing Arts Center."

Mr. Phelps obituary can be found on Inside Joplin Obituaries.