Phillip Lloyd Kennington

Phillip Lloyd Kennington passed away peacefully on August 24, 2025, at the age of 95. He was born June 18, 1930, in Star Valley, Wyoming. He was the oldest child of six born to George Harvey Kennington and Virginia Rosina Beyeler. He spent most of his first 18 summers herding cattle with his father and two brothers between Star Valley and Bear Lake. He spent the remainder of those years living in Fairview while going to school.

He and his brothers had their own range horses. They each caught and trained them to work cattle. Phil also participated in rodeos, riding and roping. He graduated from Star Valley High School in 1948. He served an honorable Mission in the Northern States Mission. Phil served a considerable portion of his mission in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and chuckled that he and his companion tracked every home in Oshkosh no less than three times.

Phil married Melba Jane Busby in the Salt Lake Temple on February 6, 1953. They had six children, son Kim Kennington, son Victor Quinn Kennington (deceased), daughter Karen (Keith) Jeppson, son Kevin (Cathy) Kennington, son Karl (Patty) Kennington, and son Klark (Trina) Kennington, 21 grandchildren, and 48 great-grandchildren.

Phil earned a degree from the University of Utah. He worked for over 30 years as the supervisor of the Pulmonary Lab at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake.

To supplement his income he would shoe horses after work. He shod several thousand horses. Somehow he would then attend to the apartments he and his wife owned in Salt Lake county.

Around the time he retired from the V.A. hospital, he began writing and performing cowboy poetry. He co-authored five Cowboy Poetry books with his brother, Donald, and performed all over the Intermountain Western States. He was honored and won awards for his original and humorous poems about the life of a cowboy and other western topics. Phil had a lively sense of humor and loved to make those around him laugh.

Funeral services will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 30, 2025, at the LDS Chapel located at 8735 Harvard Park Drive, Sandy, Utah. The viewing will be held from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at the church prior to the funeral.

Services will be streamed live on the Russon Mortuary Live Facebook page and on this obituary page. The live stream will begin 10-15 minutes prior to services and will be posted below.