Funeral Services for Dr. Philip Charles Monier of McComb are 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2015, at Sharkey Funeral Home with burial in Hollywood Cemetery. Father Brian Kaskie will officiate. Catchings Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation is Friday, March 13, 2015, from 5 until 7 p.m. at Sharkey Funeral Home and continues Saturday from 9:30 a.m. until time of service.

Dr. Monier, 83, died Tuesday, March 10, 2015, at his residence in McComb. He was born on Oct. 30, 1931, in Tucson, Arizona to Paul Q. and Wilma E. Sellers Monier.

Dr. Monier was a retired educator having taught math and science in Brookhaven then moving to McComb to become principal at Otken Elementary. After several years of being principal at Otken, he became a school administrator. He was very passionate about education. He was known while he was principal of Otken to visit children’s homes to find out why they were absent from school. On one occasion he was told their children did not have clothes. After leaving the home, he later returned with clothes for the kids and then, took them to school.

He attended and graduated from the University of Arizona earning a bachelor’s degree in education. There he lettered four years in swimming and was one of only a few to receive a lifetime pass to all of the University of Arizona sporting events. From there he attended UCLA, earning his masters. He continued his education at the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned his PhD in education and philosophy. He served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He was stationed in Houston where he met the love of his life, Norma Lee McCarthy. They were married in San Diego and moved with their three children to Mississippi in 1966. He was a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. He had been the president of the McComb Lions Club. He managed and maintained the Lions Club Swimming Pool. He started and coached the Lions Club Swim team. He was active in the Senior Olympics until he was 79. He was very active in scouting having served as a Scout Leader at St. Alphonsus, and was, himself, an Eagle Scout. He held a Real Estate Broker license in Mississippi while still an educator.

His hobbies were playing golf and tennis and exercising. He could be seen riding his bike back and forth to work every day. He loved working on cars. He could take a car apart and put it back together by himself. One of his favorite sayings was, “Anything worth doing is never easy.”

Preceding him in death were his parents; his wife, Norma Lee McCarthy Monier; and one brother, Paul Monier.

Survivors are his two sons and one daughter-in-law, Patrick and Pam Monier of McComb and Philip Monier; one daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and George Budz of Biloxi; two brothers and three sisters-in-law, Larry and Jane Monier, John and Sarah Monier and Jane Monier, all of Tucson, Arizona; four grandchildren, George Philip Budz, Paul Quintus Budz, Mallory Blair Boyd and husband, Stephen, and Philip Sean Monier; and three great-grandchildren, Wesley, Bentley and Seda who affectionately called his “Poppy”.

The family would like to invite anyone that would like to attend a gathering at the family residence following the funeral service.

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