PHILLIP DUKE GOSSAGE
1945-2021
Phillip Duke Gossage, 75, passed away September 26, 2021 at Northside Hospital in Cumming, GA. Duke was born October 8, 1945 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Howard Straughan Gossage and Louise Leamons.
Six months after birth, the Gossage family moved to El Paso, Texas due to his father’s assignment as district supervisor with the US Treasury Department and resided there for 5 years until the family relocated to Houston Texas upon his father’s assignment as supervisor of that district.
Duke was educated K-12 in the Houston public school system and graduated from Stephen F. Austin High School in 1964. During his youth he participated in baseball, football, basketball, track and cross country. He led his Little League in pitching and home runs and Pony League in batting average. Another highlight during this period was his senior teenage baseball team winning the Texas state championship. In high school Duke lettered 3 years in track and 2 years in cross country. He was honored to be named president of the school’s National Honor Society. Duke and classmate Jim Davis were selected to serve as Austin High’s school mascot.
Duke entered Georgia Institute of Technology in 1964 majoring in Industrial Engineering. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. In 1968 Duke and Frances Marie Long, his beloved wife and best pal of 51 years, were married in Valdese, NC. In 1969 the couple moved to League City, Texas where Duke began work as an engineer with Union Carbide Corporation at the Texas City plant. Their two children, Jennifer and Matt, were born in Texas prior to the family relocating to Charleston, WV as Duke accepted a transfer to Union Carbide’s Chemical division headquarters in 1975. While there he worked at the So Charleston Tech Center and So Charleston Plant in various materials management, maintenance, energy systems and central engineering departments, retiring in 2001 after a 31year career.
Not being ready to full retire, Duke accepted a position as Sr. Director of Engineering with Turner Broadcasting System, headquartered in Atlanta. During his 10-year stint in this capacity he managed the design and construction of numerous emergency electrical system projects in Atlanta, DC, London, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong.
Duke regularly attended services in the Presbyterian Church, served as an elder for over 40 years, an officer in the Men of the Church organization, and was in charge of communion preparation with his wife for many years. His life-long hobbies included golf, jogging, reading, genealogy, ornithology, working Sudoku puzzles and teasing his children and grandchildren.
Never one to have idle hands or mind, Duke volunteered his time and talents at the North Fulton Community Charities and as an elections manager at the Johns Creek polling precinct. He was a frequent contributor to the AJC opinion page, a student of history, an avid reader, a teacher, a critic, a coach and a hulluva engineer.
Duke is preceded in death by his parents, his wife Fran, and his half-brother Howard S Gossage Jr. He is survived by daughter, Jennifer Leigh Gossage Baker of Suwanee GA (Carleton Edwin Baker), son Eric Matthew Gossage of Johns Creek GA (Laura Olson Gossage) and five grandchildren: Harrison Howard Gossage, Samuel Carleton Baker, Quinn Matthew Gossage, Phillip Sawyer Baker and Straughan Marie Baker.
A memorial service is planned at Roswell Presbyterian Church in Roswell, GA on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 10:45AM. Burial is planned beside his wife in the Waldensian Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Valdese, NC.