Phillip John Rieman

Phillip John Rieman, age 70, resident of Enid, Oklahoma, left this life on April 24, 2019. He died at his home, under the care of his loving spouse, Julia C. Rieman and beloved daughter, Amy A. Pope and Hospice Circle of Love, of Enid, Oklahoma. A Visitation for Phillip will be held on Sunday, April 28, 2019, from 1:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M with the family receiving guests from 4:00 P.M to 6:00 P.M. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M, Monday, April 29, 2019 at Zion Lutheran Church in Perry with Pastor Peter Olson officiating. Interment will follow at Pleasant Valley Sumner Cemetery, in Sumner, OK. Services have been entrusted to the care of Dighton-Marler Funeral Home of Perry.
Phillip was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma March 3, 1949 to Vivian and Henry (“Hinie”) Rieman. He grew up on a farm in Sumner, Oklahoma where he learned how to work hard and grew up strong. Growing up, Phill loved to hunt and fish and while he lost his interest in hunting when he got older, he never lost his love of fishing. Fishing was something he enjoyed all his life, and he passed that passion on to his grandsons. He graduated from Morrison, Oklahoma High School in 1967. Following high school he enlisted in the Navy in 1969 and was then shipped off to Viet Nam where he served on a destroyer, the USS Henry Tucker. When he returned to Oklahoma after his service to his country, he returned home and married Rachel Kennedy in 1972. He became a father to Rachel's three children, Mark Davis, Garey James and Rejina James. He and Rachel had twin daughters together, Amy and Jamie. Several years after his marriage to Rachel ended, he met his soulmate, Julia C. Piety. Phillip and Julia married in Stillwater, Oklahoma May 2, 1987. Their marriage lasted the rest of his life. As a young man, Phillip helped to build a portion of the Cimarron Turnpike in Oklahoma. He worked for several years farming before going on to a career at National Standard in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He received the Gene Riggs Award from the Gaslight Theatre in Enid, Oklahoma in the 2004-2005 season, for his work behind the scenes on set construction. He was a gentle, but incredibly strong man, with a heart bigger than the Oklahoma skies. There wasn't anything he couldn't build or fix and no project he was afraid to tackle. Phillip and Julia's home in Enid, Oklahoma, reflects his handiwork in every corner, from the brick wall and sidewalks out front to the interior walls with arched doorways, the ceramic tile floors, fireplace and so much more, inside. He loved animals and even trained a squirrel to come and eat from his hand. His wonderful sense of humor never left him, even when he had entered hospice care at the end of the truly heroic battle he fought against cancer. When he left this life, he went to join his father and mother, and his many beloved pets, including dogs, Maxine, Michelle, Boy and Little Girl and cats Gabrielle, Lucinda, Emily Felicity, Edgar, Salem and Lucy, and his “Little Girl Squirrel”, who had gone before him. He is survived by his beloved wife of almost 32 years, Julia C. Rieman, his beloved daughter, Amy Pope and her husband, Shawn, and their children, Marlena Arroyo, Paris Pope and Alex Pope, his beloved daughter, Jamie Rieman and her children, Casey Rieman, Marlena Arroyo, Devon Edwards, Dante Rieman, Damien Rieman, Donovan Rieman, Diemetrian (“John John”) Smith, Paris Pope, Alex Pope, Kobi Rieman, and Dominick Phillip Rieman, his step-children from his first marriage, Mark Davis, Garey James and Rejina James, his sister, Judy Schroeder and her husband, Mike, sister, Sharleen Hamilton and her husband, Dick, aunts, Phyllis White and Juanita (“Neat”) Gerken, his great-aunt Anna Mae Radcliff, numerous cousins, and his two cats: Smokey Joe (“Bigfoot”) and Michael James (“Mickey Wade”). Memorial donations may be made to Hospice Circle of Love, 314 South Third, Enid, Oklahoma 73701 or to the Enid SPCA (a no-kill animal shelter) at: https://enidspca.org/