My grandfather, Joe “Graham” Phillips, worked road construction in Arizona and Nevada. He was, in fact, a founding member of the Operating Engineers local 14 (though that local number may have changed since his day.) He worked hard to get the job done, and he moved his family from job to job so he could support them. As my Dad said in his eulogy for his father, “One of my favorite authors has said that ‘A man has born to make his mark upon the land. He may be remembered by the change, however small, he has made.’ When Dad is laid to rest, of course there will be a marker – a small bit of stone. But Joe Phillips has a far greater monument… most places you travel in this wide state [Arizona], through Queen Creek tunnel, the Black Canyon Freeway, highway 70, you will be driving upon his ultimate monument – the roads he helped to build; Joe Phillips’ tracks upon this land.”
