Donna Phipps gives high-voltage thanks

For the first time ever, there's only two concrete obligations inked into Donna Phipps' day planner.
 
Retire.
 
Ride horses.
 
Phipps will gladly tell you that anything else is simply - and joyously - up in in the air until she's good and ready to plan how she's going to gallop into the next chapter of life.
 
"I'm gonna go out there, put on my floppy hat and just ride! What I'm going to do is take a couple of months to just decompress, ride my horses, enjoy my family and figure that if I want to do something, I will, and if I don't want to, I won't. I tell you I'm so excited about what lies ahead."
 
The community development manager for Arizona Public Service retires at the end of this month after 31 years with the company.
 
"The thing I'm looking forward to most, and I say this with a lot of kindness, is not being managed. All of us who work know that. You've got to be here by 6 a.m. and off to that meeting by 8 a.m. My decisions are based on choice and I'm finding that pretty exciting."
 
But Phipps quickly explains that she feels able to launch into a new era, not only because she looks forward to calling her own shots a bit more, but because life so far has been so darn good.
 
APS gets a high-voltage round of thanks for being such a major source of that satisfaction.
 
"When I first walked in there, I was this young kid with a big smile on my face. And you know what? Thirty-one years later, hopefully I'm a touch smarter and my hair is a different color, but I'm walking out with that same smile. It's been a fantastic experience."
 
Phipps' responsibilities with the power company are wide-reaching, from getting involved in community development projects to community education and working with the media.
 
"Working at APS for me has been a great partnership. I've been truly blessed as a person to have been able to do things for my community that I wouldn't have been able to do ordinarily, thanks to this company's commitment to community development."
 
Phipps pointed to projects like planting trees, creating community parks and APS' support of developing Yuma's natural, historical and recreational resources along the Colorado River.
 
"This isn't about Donna Phipps," she said. "It's about APS. This is about all the partners, all the support a lot of us have had that's enabled us to accomplish some tremendous things for our community. By working closely, together we've left a nice footprint in our community so that someone else can carry that forward."
 
She smiled warmly as she added: "I'll always be active in the community, but I'm looking forward to someone else taking the lead. Leadership cycles and that is a great thing."
 
But if her career is an APS story, it's also a Yuma story.
 
Phipps was born in Nappa, Idaho, but came to this community when she was just 3 months old. "So I consider myself a native. I'm a product of the public school system and I'm proud to be a Yuma High Criminal!"
 
The adults in her family worked in the produce business. "They were what we called back then fruit tramps."
 
Phipps graduated from high school in 1963 and probably couldn't have predicted then that she was stepping into what would be such a full and rich life.
 
"Back then there weren't too many opportunities for women. I got married. Fortunately I just happened to meet a guy, a pretty decent guy, and we've hung in there together and we've made a good life."
 
Phipps is married to John Phipps, former sheriff of Yuma County who has his own community talk show.
 
"In the beginning, I wasn't too keen on his law enforcement career. There were times when there were major emergencies in this community and I was fending for myself and our two children while John was out there taking care of everyone else. It was a bitter pill to swallow.
 
"I was pretty hateful for about the first year we were married and we laugh about it now. But then I realized that I could either be an asset or a liability. John had a passion and he had to follow it."
 
Her husband returned the favor when Phipps discovered her corporate calling with APS, a job that transformed her into as much of a public person as her spouse.
 
"I was ahead of my time. It was tough for John. My family is very important to me, but I'm so delighted that we are all very much individuals and pretty independent. We're all very close, but we all have our own special things we love to do, that make us who we are. So we support each other."
 
That support proved crucial during what proved to be one of the most challenging experiences in Phipps' life. In 2006 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and was forced to leave her job for six months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.
 
"I was terrified. I thought 'Oh my gosh, why has this happened? I played by all the rules. I did all the mammograms and self-exams.' So you know what I did? I did the normal thing. I went home and cried for two days. Then I thought, 'OK, you better wipe your eyes, blow your nose and get in the game here.'"
 
But Phipps speaks very frankly about the inner turmoil that comes when  facing a potentially terminal disease.
 
"You know you're sick, but when you look in the mirror, you don't recognize yourself. Not only have you lost control over your body, but you've lost your identity as well.
 
"When I looked into the mirror it wasn't Donna Phipps. That was somebody I didn't even know."
 
Phipps turned things around by dedicating herself to learning about her cancer experience and playing an active, informed role in her care. Today her cancer is in remission and she volunteers with Sunstone Cancer Support Center.
 
Cancer actually played a role in Phipps deciding to retire now - not as a victim, but as a survivor.
 
"When I was sick, I thought about retiring. But I didn't want cancer to be tied to any more decisions than possible. I came back and it was tough, but now (retirement) is on my terms. It's my choice."
 
And oh, the choices she's looking forward to making in her life.
 
"I tell you what, I'm excited about what lies ahead for me."
 
In the meantime, until she's actually gone, APS is continuing to shower Phipps with celebrations and open houses, all attention that possibly has the rare honor of catching Phipps off guard.
 
"I am absolutely overwhelmed by this company's treatment of me. It's just fantastic. To me the whole thing is just one big victory lap for APS and Donna Phipps."

--
Darin Fenger can be reached at dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.