Tribute to Phil Voso

  As we approach Christmas, Wayne and I find ourselves thinking about people we are grateful to have in our lives.   And more and more these days we experience rushes of gratitude for those who have enriched our lives and moved on.  Phil Voso was just such a person. I doubt any of us will ever think of him without recalling his warm, one of a kind laugh and joyful demeanor.  

Polly remembers her husband frequently remarking on how much he loved Wolf Laurel. He’d often say, “Everyone is so happy to be here it’s easy for us all to be nice to one another without the pettiness and politics of other places we’ve known.”  I think it’s safe to say that Phil lived everyday to the fullest! His love for the mountains was only surpassed by that of the sea. He grew up on water and, as Polly says, “Whenever he was sailing or even just near the ocean he was very, very happy.”

Phil and Polly were to be celebrating their fiftieth anniversary this July. They met in high school in Babylon, New York, went to separate colleges, then got back together and married in 1964. Phil got his undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering at the New York State Maritime College before earning a master’s degree at Columbia University. For 29 years he specialized in manufacturing with the W.R. Grace Cryovac  Division. Early retirement beckoned in 1999, and Phil, in his mid-fifties, made the most of it. The Vosos  chose Asheville as their home, based on the wonderful times they had spent  both there and in Tryon, North Carolina. In 2005 they purchased their Wolf Laurel home.  Although retired, Phil never slowed down. Last summer he and a grandson finished the cabin’s downstairs, adding a family room and guest bedroom.

Then, as we all know, at the annual meeting Phil presented his long range plan for the Wolf Laurel Country Club. I see that document as Phil Voso’s  legacy, one which will positively impact our future as a Club and the Wolf Laurel community as a whole.

I know I can speak for my husband, Wayne McDaniel, as well as for many of you when I say, Thank you Phil, for being an important part of our lives, Melissa Drake 

When Polly and I spoke earlier this week  I was surprised to learn that I had called her on what would have been Phil’s 71^st birthday.