Martha A. Phillips, 102
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. - Martha Ann Phillips, 102, of 43 Jackson St. died Sunday, July 17, 2005, at Sweet Brook Care Centers in Williamstown, following a month of failing health. Born in Bennington, Vt., on March 16, 1903, daughter of Charles F. Williams and Mabel Huse Williams Lyons, she began her education in a one-room schoolhouse in Pownal, Vt., and continued her education in the Williamstown Public Schools.
Primarily a homemaker, Mrs. Phillips worked as a waitress in a boarding house in Williamstown and later in the Williams College Infirmary. During World War II, she assisted the war effort by working at the former Sprague Electric Co. until 1946. She devoted her life to homemaking for her husband and siblings, raising two of her brothers and a sister from childhood after her mother died in 1927.
She began attending First United Methodist Church of Williamstown in 1918 and became a member in 1930. She was the oldest member of the church and a longtime member of the Methodist Women. She enjoyed working with young children and volunteered at the nursery at the church during Sunday services.
Her husband, Francis Monroe Phillips, whom she married Jan. 3, 1925, in St. John's Episcopal Church in Williamstown, died Oct. 18, 1965.
She leaves a sister, Isabelle M. Lyons of North Adams, whom she raised and with whom she resided, and two brothers, Edward E. Williams of Pittsfield and Arthur R. Lyons of Staten Island, N.Y., and nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.
She was predeceased by five brothers, David E. Lyons and Robert H. Lyons Jr., both of whom she raised, Alfred H. Williams Sr., Charles Williams and Clarence Williams, and by a sister, Clara M. Chadwell.
FUNERAL NOTICE - Services to celebrate the life of Mrs. Phillips will be conducted Wednesday at 11 at First United Methodist Church of Williamstown by the Rev. Dr. Pat MacHugh, pastor.
Burial will follow in the family plot in Eastlawn Cemetery, Williamstown.
There will be no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested for the VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire through FLYNN & DAGNOLI-MONTAGNA HOME for FUNERALS, West Chapels, 521 West Main St., North Adams.