Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person – someone who is well-known, successful, and/or influential, and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
The teenager thought he was “somebody”.
After all, he was the son of a well-known, well-respected home builder.
One day on a job site, the boy and his father’s head carpenter got into an argument. The young “man” decided to give his father’s long time worker the heave-ho.
“He told my dad, ‘George, Philip fired me today, so I don’t guess I will be here tomorrow.’”
You could have heard a nail drop.
“He called all those grown men over, made me pull my britches down, and he whooped my butt with his belt. He said, ‘My son, he’s just a worker. He doesn’t fire anybody.’”
Turns out, dad was showing son some tough love.
“He didn’t want me to be in this business because it’s a hard business. He was just trying to teach me – to run me off.”
47-year-old Philip Rodgers, longtime home builder, as well as a current Bossier Parish police juror, told me that story, and his story, during lunch at a place he chose, Shane’s Seafood & BBQ (Philip and Shane are brothers). Philip had a small cheeseburger, fries, and peach tea to drink. He also had a side of pickles. “My family loves pickles. We eat ‘em like candy.” I enjoyed the two-piece catfish lunch special, and water with lemon. Philip did not offer to share is pickles.
Despite his daddy’s wishes, Philip has been building homes – or at least involved in home building – most of his life. As a kid, he would pick up trash at his father’s jobsites.
“It’s all I’ve ever done. I was a dishwasher for a couple of nights. My mom got me a job at Western Sizzlin for about three nights, but I couldn’t do that.”
But there was plenty Philip could do. He was “always a hustler.”
“By the time I was a senior in high school, I had bought three different vehicles in my name. My credit. I would just come home one day with a new truck. Daddy would say, ‘You bought you a new truck? I hope you can pay for it.’”
He could. Philip was making $3,500 a week with his lawn service. After graduating Southwood High School, Philip gave Bossier Parish Community College a try. But he soon found out time is money.
“I wasn’t going to work until one in the afternoon because I had school all morning. I had to sub out my yards to the guys who worked for me because I couldn’t be there. I said, ‘You know what? I would be better off if I went to work.’”
Philip eventually sold his lawn service and began working for his father. But Philip still didn’t get preferential treatment
“We had a Track Hoe, so I would dig out slabs for the plumber to put the plumbing in houses. Then, I would put in septic tanks in the afternoon.”
Later, Philip began laying tile floors, while continuing to install septic tanks.
“If you want to be in the building business,” Philip’s dad told him, ‘”You’re going to have to learn what a builder does.”
Philip’s father was “a bigger guy” and had health issues. Open heart surgery when he was 30. Five heart attacks. A mechanical heart the final five years of his life. So, Philip began taking on more and more responsibility. Philip got his builders’ license in the early 2000’s and eventually took over his father’s business.
“He was always a worker and taught me that you have to work to be something in your life.”
Philip’s dad built the first 20 St. Jude Dream Homes, starting in 1990. His father donated his work and got subcontractors to do the same. That’s right. They built houses for free, which were raffled off. The proceeds went to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Philip didn’t have to continue his father’s legacy. Think about that. Building a house for free? But he did. The 35th Dream Home is being built this year.
“He instilled in us that was the right thing to do. That’s why you do something – for the right reasons. He felt, and I felt, ‘Why should I quit? Because it’s hard?’ That’s not really a reason to quit. Kids with cancer are dying. If that’s my part I can do to help, that’s what I should do.”
Philip knows something about having a sick child. The youngest of two sons, Aiden was born with
Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In terms you and I can understand, Aiden came into the world with half a heart.
“Some doctors said he would never have a normal life. They didn’t know what kind of life he would have, or how long he would live.
Aiden has had three heart surgeries (at four days old, four months old, and four years old). Philip and his wife of 15 years, Jenny, take Aiden to Houston for a checkup every six months.
“He’s doing great . . . . Nobody would look at Aiden (who is now 10) and know there was a thing wrong with him . . . . Before he was born, doctors told us he would never be able to wrestle and play with his brother (Noah).
Philip’s voice cracked. His eyes welled up with tears.
“They (Aiden and his brother) fight like cats and dogs. Every time we see them fight it makes us happy.”
But not every story in Philip’s life has had a happy ending. His other brother, who worked for 10 years at a restaurant, was mentally challenged.
“Some guys befriended him. They figured out when he was going to get his check. They robbed him and killed him over $187.”
Two men were arrested and sent to prison. The now-retired detective who worked the case wrote a book about his time in law enforcement and included the murder of Philip’s brother.
“My wife read it. She told me I could never read it. I told her I didn’t have to read it. I lived it.”
30 years after his brother’s killing, Philip continues to show amazing grace.
“I forgive those guys,” Philip told me, unable to hold back tears. “God will handle that. That’s not for me to do. Do I want them out of prison? No. But I don’t hate them. They will get what they deserve. They’re not for me to judge.”
As if homebuilding wasn’t a full-time job, Philip is in his second term as a Bossier Parish police juror. His first taste of politics came several years ago, when he and his father were denied permission to build a “high-end mobile home park” in Benton.
“I started watching and seeing what was going on. I just wanted to be involved in my community. I still feel that way.”
As a juror, Philip has a better understanding of what it’s like to make decisions which aren’t always popular with everyone.
“I don’t mind telling someone ‘No’ when I don’t agree with them.”
Assuming Philip had to oversee a foundation pour or figure a way to ease traffic on Old Palmetto Road, I asked my final question. As always, what is it about his life that might be inspiring to others? Philip thought back to a recent funeral he attended. A lot of people – a lot of people – came to pay their respects.
“You should maybe do the right thing and treat people the way you want to be treated . . . . I think that’s how you’re measured, by what you do for other people.”
If that’s true, Philip’s funeral may be standing room only.
Do you know someone with a story? Email SBJTonyT@gmail.com.