Patients, friends remember Dr. Preston Phillips, a victim of the Saint Francis mass shooting

TULSA, Okla. — This is Doctor Preston Phillips in pictures.

“We were friends. He was a brother of mine,” said Brian Leonard.

>>>RELATED: Police: Four victims, shooter dead after shooting on Saint Francis campus

And this is Doctor Phillips in words.

“He talked about continuing the healing ministry of Christ and so that is who Preston was,” Leonard said.

“He was that kind of giving person with humans, patients. community, he just had that giving heart,” added Christina Nelson.

Since 2006 Christina Nelson literally only ever knew him on a first name basis.

“So, I would always call him hey Doctor Preston…he would say, ‘you know its Dr. Phillips right, so I told him you have two first names so it became our little joke so I would call him Dr. Preston,” Nelson said.

>>>RELATED: City of Tulsa leaders to give an update on the Saint Francis mass shooting

Brian Leonard knew him and competed with him for ten years on the tennis courts.

“He had a huge personality, big laugh, when he walked into the room you knew he was there,” Leonard said.

On Wednesday, Dr. Phillips was the first person Nelson and Leonard thought about when they heard about the mass shooting at the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital.

“He was the very first person who popped up in my mind please don’t let it be him,” Nelson said.

“I texted him at like 6 {p.m.} and said, ‘hey bro is you okay I am praying for you and then found out he was gone,” Leonard remembered.

Brian will never get a text back from him.

“It is hard, man. I loved the guy,” Leonard said.

He will also never forget that last match they played together on Monday that he says describes his friend perfectly.

“So, the next point one and he got it, so Preston walked up to the net and said we won 4-3 and then turned around and walked off,” Leonard remembered. “So, unless he played Tuesday that was his last match.”

Those memories mean a lot to his friends who say his life was one of giving. Thursday they are keeping his family in their thoughts.

>>>RELATED: Two doctors, a medical receptionist and a visitor killed in Saint Francis mass shooting

“I think the hardest part to me is thinking about his kids and his family, and children, he was a husband and father,” Leonard said.

Nelson adds, “To melody his wife, his kids, we are there for you in spirit and prayer. We are coming together to pray for you in this whole event.”

Their prayers also going out to the other three lives, senselessly lost, but lives lived with meaning.

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