A family friend of a University student who was killed in June has established a memorial fund to purchase and refurbish a bench in Gabriel Park in Portland. A portion of the funds will also go toward a plaque in remembrance.
University journalism student Phillip Julian Gillins, 22, died the morning before his graduation ceremony when he hit his head on the ground after being punched by one of three men who approached him. Gillins and his friends were leaving a campus-area bar when the incident took place.
Deborah Honthaner, a friend of the Gillins family, hopes to raise $3,000 to purchase the bench and plaque, which will overlook the Rocky Benveneto baseball field in southwest Portland. Honthaner said the field is where Gillins – still in diapers – first learned how to run bases. The field is in Gabriel Park, just a few blocks from the Gillins’ home.
“Phil grew up in the park with his many friends and activities,” Honthaner said. “And his parents, Peter and Linda, walk the park daily, as do many neighbors and community members. It seems very important to me to mark Phil’s memory in the community he grew up in as his death has profoundly affected many of us.”
To contribute to the Phillip Julian Gillins Memorial Fund, deposit donations to account #370181008977 at KeyBank. The fund is not a charitable organization and donations are not tax deductible.
Honthaner would like to include a list of people who contribute to the fund in a card for Gillins’ parents.
For more information, e-mail Honthaner at [email protected]
Memorial fund started for UO student
Daily Emerald
October 9, 2005
Deborah Honthaner sits on a bench at Gabriel Park in southwest Portland, overlooking the baseball field where she said former University student Phillip Gillins learned to run the bases. The bench will be refurbished to memorialize Gillins, who died Jun
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