Published in the June 12, 2018 edition.

WAKEFIELD — The West Side Social Club Fourth of July Committee is proud to honor the memory of a very special person to the town of Wakefield at this year’s July 4th celebration.

The 2018 honoree will be Phyllis Hull, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this year after an accident in her home.

Phyllis was born in Boston and raised in Somerville. After her marriage to John Hull, she and John lived in various places around the United States before settling permanently in Wakefield in the early 1960s where they raised their daughter,
Diane.

Phyllis worked as a manager at Iotron in Bedford, and later as Personnel Director at MegaPulse also in Bedford. After her retirement, she worked part-time as a clerk and operator at The Savings Bank in Wakefield.

Phyllis loved the Town of Wakefield, and in her middle and later years was elected to the Board of Selectmen, where she served multiple terms. She will be remembered for her feisty spirit, unwillingness to compromise, and fearless outspoken positions on all matters of Wakefield. Phyllis’ deep love for her country was evident when she began a repair of the Veteran’s Memorial on Veterans Common, which bloomed into a complete replacement and beautification of the Memorial, all financed through private donations and fundraisers, mostly organized by Phyllis and her dearest friends.

It was she who originally brought the idea of replacing the old World War II Memorial to the Board of Selectmen after a couple of World War II veterans approached her about the condition of the crumbling old wooden memorial. She chaired the committee that the selectmen appointed to oversee replacing the monument.

In the hands of someone else, a project like that could have easily stalled. But Phyllis was not about to let that happen to the World War II veterans. “I want the new monument to be built while there are still World War II veterans alive to see it,” she’d say again and again.

Because of Phyllis’s undying devotion to the town of Wakefield and her remarkable friendship to everyone, the West Side Social Club Fourth of July Committee is proud to honor her memory at this year’s spectacular firework display over the shores of Lake Quannapowitt.