Family focus
October 16, 2022
Phil looks at a phone with his wife, Anita Hemingway, after a day of working. Most nights in the fall, the couple finds football games to watch together.
Belize was not the only foreign country Phil called home.
Map by Jami Martin-Trainor/The Daily Iowan
From 1990 to 1994, he lived in several African countries and within the former Soviet Union. At one point he served as an agricultural consultant; at another, he was a grain vacuum technician on several humanitarian foreign aid ships.
The ships consisted of American workers, but Phil said the stevedores originated from multiple countries and all worked together toward a common goal to unload the cargo in a timely manner.
While he enjoyed working with people from backgrounds different from his own, he chose to move back stateside to spend more time with his wife and daughter.
David wrote in a statement to The Daily Iowan that Phil’s experience abroad gave him a larger perspective and more experience to his bid for public office.
“His experience working with and getting along with vastly diverse colleagues make him particularly qualified for public service,” David wrote.