Charylene (Henry) Philp

Charylene Henry Philp, 93, of Knox, PA passed away Friday, October 3rd, 2025 at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh.

She was born on July 15, 1932 at home in Porter Township, Clarion County, the eldest child of James T. and Martha (McCall) Henry.

Charylene grew up on the family farm, baked her first cake at age 8 and was driving the

tractor by the time she was 10. A hard worker but also full of fun, she won lots of ribbons showing cattle in 4-H. She also enjoyed roller skating at the New Bethlehem rink, where she mastered doing a split on skates. She taught herself to twirl and went on to be head majorette in the high school band and the New Bethlehem Firemen’s Band. Her specialty was twirling fire batons, which people loved to watch.

In 1956, she was set up by friends on a blind date with Nelson L. Philp, Jr. and they were married on December 30th of that year. They enjoyed over 60 years of marriage until Nelson’s death on February 10, 2017.

For several years, Charylene worked for Sylvania Electric and drove the carpool to take coworkers from the New Bethlehem area to the plant in Brookville. Good times were had and good friends were made in the carpool and at Sylvania.

Upon marrying Nelson, they moved to Rural Valley where Nelson taught. Charylene led a Brownie troop and they were active in their church and the Rural Valley Grange. The friends they made in Rural Valley lasted throughout the rest of their lives and were very special to them.

A new teaching position for Nelson at Clarion-Limestone prompted a move to Brookville, PA where they made more friends through church and card clubs. Charylene enrolled in Clarion College as an adult student and obtained her teaching degree. She taught Third Grade at Clarion-Limestone prior to accepting a position in Potter County at the Austin Area School District. She and Nelson taught for many years there and Charylene went on to obtain a Master’s Degree at Penn State and was the Superintendent of that school district until her retirement. Under her direction, they pioneered distance education in the early 1980s as a way to provide rural school students every opportunity to learn.

In 1981, Nelson and Charylene purchased a farm in the Knox area and spent week-ends working on the farm after working at the school during the week. They loved every minute of both endeavors and Charylene was able to stay in her farmhouse that Nelson had refurbished for her until the day before she passed.

Charylene was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two brothers, Victor Robert Henry and James Connell Henry, a son-in-law, Lee Grosch, and a brother-in-law, Cecil Shaffer. She is survived by her sister, Anna Marie Shaffer, and by her children, Karen Grosch, Jennifer (Greg) Shufran, Connell Philp and Valerie (Keith) Walter. Also surviving are six grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Family was at the center of all of Charylene’s efforts, from helping on her family’s farm while growing up to sharing her love of farm life with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 4 to 6 PM on Friday, Oct. 10th at the McEntire-Weaver Funeral Home, 504 E. Penn Ave., Knox, PA and from 10 to 11 AM on Saturday at the Edenburg Presbyterian Church, Main Street, Knox, PA. Funeral services will be held at 11 AM Saturday in the church with Pastor Sarah Sedgwick officiating. Private interment will follow at the Rimersburg Cemetery.

The family requests memorial contributions be made to Edenburg Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 458, Knox, PA 16232.

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