Chiles' next door neighbor and Sendai RM Richard Zilm let us know that the family set up a website honoring Phil that included the following information (and now includes a link to download zip files of memorial video and audio of the funeral services.)

Phillip Eugene Chiles Jr
You left us far too soon

In Loving Memory

He is survived by his wife Dixie, and his children Rusty, Cory, Katrina, Cody, Blake and Kassandra.

Phil has been helping people all of his life, and was Bishop of Harmony Park Ward. He touched the lives of countless individuals. He gave everything, and asked for nothing in return. He taught us compassion, respect, integrity, honesty, and to love one another unconditionally. Many of his countless friends considered him to be their brother, father or their best friend. He left behind a great legacy, and we will remember him forever.

Funeral Information - Public Viewing Dates And Times - Bunker Funeral Home - Friday October 21 6-8pm, 33 North Centennial Way Mesa, AZ 85201, LDS Kimball Stake Center - Saturday October 22 9-9:40am, 1266 S. 32nd Street Mesa, AZ 85204

Funeral - LDS Kimball Stake Center - Saturday October 22 10:00am, 1266 S. 32nd Street Mesa, AZ 85204. Graveside Service will follow at City of Mesa Cemetery, 1212 N. Center Street, Mesa, Arizona 85201

For the funeral service, Japan RMs were invited to join in singing some Hymns in Japanese as requested by Phil's wife, Dixie.

Thanks so much for all your love and support!!! It was wonderful to read your memories of Phil. He always talked about his mission and wanted to return. We had full travel plans on 3 different occasions. Something BIG always came up and we had to cancel. We had our travel plans completed to go again in April of this year. 3 weeks before we left the tsunami hit and left so much devastation. His heart was so heavy and he was so saddend by what happened. We had planned on serving our mission there!!! I hope he is serving those people on the other side... he loved the Japanese people so much!!! The last deep conversation we had he talked about his concern of what was going to happen in after he was released as Bishop of the Harmony Park Ward. He told me that he had asked the Stake President if his call could be extended past his April 2012-5year date. He told me he knew something BIG was coming up!!! He was right... He was always an earlybird for everthing. It has been an honor to be his wife and the mother of his children. He will never be forgotten. He has left us with a lifetime of wonderful memories and great examples. Thanks for being a part of his life and sharing your stories. Love Dixie Lewis Chiles

• Guy Hurst: This is hitting me pretty hard. He was my first companion in the mission home in SLC for 2 weeks and then we were in the LTM in Hawaii and both of us had our first assignments as kohai (junior) companions in Sakata. Phil's first companion in Japan was Tetsuo Kadono Choro. I always looked up to Phil. My son, now 31, is named Phil.
• Gordon Clegg: Chiles Chōrō was my first companion and I loved him like a brother. He taught me a lot, and people who served with him can attest that Phil was energetic and fun loving, and he enjoyed sharing the gospel. Our heart-felt sympathy goes out to Dixie and the children. Phil was a good man, and it was a great pleasure to serve with him.
• Taniunchi Yoshihiko: It was such a surprise and sad news to hear. Please convey my heartfelt sympathy and condolence to his wife and family. We will miss him a lot. From one of his Walter Teruya's warriors.
• Lee Redd: I knew Phil Chiles while he was in the mission home as one of the APs. Great person!! I'm sure he was an excellent Bishop and will be greatly missed by his family, ward members, and friends.
• Randy Otteson: Phil and I were never companions but we were in the same district. I remember him as always saying he was going to be President of the United States someday, and I remember he was always one of the best arm wrestlers at taikai. Im sorry for his family's loss--he was a great missionary and I'm sure a great husband and father. My sincere condolences.


• Craig Brooksby: Here's Phil Chiles, on the far right, on the day they drove us to the airport to fly home. That's Hansen and Chiles as our cabbies, and Stoddard, Zilm, and I (taking the picture) as their precious cargo. Note the "Escort Service" signs on the door and the special hood ornament. :-) Chiles had a great smile. Every one he ever met, loved him instantly. What a guy.
• Todd Ogaard: I took this photo a few months after Brooksby's photo above, when (back row from left) Hurst, Chiles and Taniuchi were all going home. Persons is standing in front. This was taken from the second-floor landing of the Honbu (Mission Home) apartment building at Mukaiyama, before the 'real' Honbu was built. There's Chiles' great smile Brooksby mentioned, plus a nice set of tennis shoes-a nice combination!
  I most recently was corresponding with Phil about eight months prior to his passing regarding suggestions for a trip back to Japan that he was planning with his wife, Dixie. "For the first time since returning home, my wife and I are visiting Japan. I plan on visiting some of the old places I proselyted at and am really looking forward to going back. We leave April 11 and will return on April 22nd. I have already got my rail pass purchased and plan on visiting Tsuruoka and attending church there. I was one of the first missionaries in Tsuruoka and was there when the city was dedicated. Have you had a chance to visit Tsuruoka since returning home? I am pretty excited." Unfortunately about two weeks after the email above, the big earthquake and tsunami hit and their plans were cancelled.
• Marv Reep: Chiles Chourou came to Tsuruoka not long after it was opened. He wasn't my companion, but there were 4 of us Elders staying in the same place. He was fun to be around and a faithful missionary. I think he and his companion had the first baptism in Tsuruoka. I suspect he will be busy in Paradise teaching the Gospel.
• Guy Hurst: This picture was taken in front of the Hirosaki branch where Phil served from 8/75 through 1/76. A separate memory: President Teruya had asked Elder Davies (Sakata DL who was my Sempai) to go to Tsuruoka and check it out for the possibility of opening a branch there in the future. Phil Chiles and I think Tetsuo Kadono (Phil's Sempai) accompanied us there on a snowy night around New Years 1974. I remember the evening there in Tsuruoka with snow falling heavily and the downtown streets were almost deserted. On the way home to Sakata the old train (futsu) was nearly empty so we got to go to the very front of the train and watch the train seemingly float over the snow (there was no sign of the tracks in the fresh snow-just a lot of white-it was like being in a snow globe). Chiles Choro loved the idea of opening Tsuruoka from first sight, and later was one of the first missionaries assigned there.


• Haydn Castleton: I've loved and respected Phil since he and I were both junior companions in Tsuruoka. Once Ito shimai asked us to bless her after a couple of sleepless nights. I anointed and she jumped up saying she was healed. Chiles Choro said, "Sit down, we're not finished with you yet," and he sealed the anointing. Of course my memory has turned it into English, but I have always treasured the time we spent together in the mission and especially pioneering in beautiful Tsuruoka.
• Richard Zilm: I want to express my thanks to all of you that have shared your memories of Phil Chiles. I had the privilege and honor of being his companion twice in the mission. (Tsuruoka and the Aomori zone) I grew to know him during this time and I have many wonderful memories of him. I also had the privilege to live next door to him for the last 10 years. As good as he was as a missionary he was even better as a husband, father, neighbor, home teacher and bishop. I got to see him in all of these roles. He always spoke fondly of the people that he served with in Japan and so very much wanted to return to the mission.
  His funeral service was very spiritual and his son Cory gave a fantastic sermon about being able to find the truth. Thank you to the RMs that took time to sing at his funeral. I am saddened to lose my companion and lifelong friend but I am comforted in the knowledge that I will have a chance to see him again and rejoice as Alma did with the sons of Mosiah. God Be With You 'Til We Meet again, Chiles Choro.
• Todd Ogaard (#2): About seven months after Chiles Choro's passing, I attended church in Tsuruoka on a trip back to Japan. I had served in nearby Sakata, which as many of you may know was closed in 2002 and merged with Tsuruoka (2 small branches theoretically joining to become a strong, larger branch). As indicated in many remembrances above, Chiles was one of the first missionaries in Tsuruoka after it was opened in 1975. One of their first investigators (then later converts) were the Arao family-a husband and wife who were both barbers. I knew the Arao family also when I labored in Sakata (we'd ride the train over for haircuts and Bro. Arao would drive us back after the shop closed) and later stayed with the Araos when I visited a few years after our missions with another Teruya RM from my group, Ken White. I learned at church in Tsuruoka that day that Bro. Arao died around 2004, and in 2010 or 2011 Sis. Arao opened a new shop with her daughter and had named the shop "Chiles" after Chiles Choro. What an impact Phil made to so many people's lives! Sis. Arao is now inactive, but a member at church offered to drive me to the shop so I could 'fellowship' her and also give her the sad news about Phil. When I told her we both shed some tears! I'm glad I went. As I indicated in my first posting above, before he passed away he was planning a trip to Japan and I had been helping him on including a Tsuruoka visit in his plans. I'm thinking he might have been guiding me to go to church in Tsuruoka--I didn't know anything about the "Chiles" shop until church that day. The picture above is of Sis. Arao and me in front of the shop. For those of you rusty in katakana, it says above the big letters, "hair (cuts) and este (Esthetician treatments)" then the big letters sound out "Chai-ru-zu" (Chiles). I shared this story and picture with Phil's wife Dixie. She said he was aware of the shop being named after him and they had planned to visit and take the same sort of picture!
• Joe Toronto: Thanks for the great story Todd. I'm stunned and deeply saddened to hear of Phil's passing. He and I were companions when we finally opened Tsuruoka for the work. Here's another Phil story. In the process of opening Tsuruoka, Marvin Reep, Randy Otteson and I were commuting on a daily basis from Sakata until we could find living quarters in Tsuruoka. In doing so, we had to endure the daily unrelenting pleadings from Phil, who was in Sakata, to get Pres. Teruya to transfer him with us when we moved to Tsuruoka. Before long, I could endure it no longer and a phone call to Pres. Teruya made it so. We had so much fun and so much success. He and I both shed a tear when two months later I left Tsuruoka to return home. I briefly met the Arao family and don't remember them well, but I left them in the more than capable hands of Chiles choro. A couple of years later, when I drove from Salt Lake to Phil's wedding in the Mesa temple, I had forgotten to bring my recommend. It was a small miracle that I was able to talk my way past the recommend guards at the Temple entrance and they let me in. Thanks again Todd for the story, for bringing back memories and the updates. I have the deepest regards, sympathies and love for the Chiles family.