Phyllis May Folsom
September 26, 1923 ~ January 25, 2022
Phyllis May (Widegren) Folsom, b. 26 Sep 1923 in Worcester, MA,daughter of Frank Albert Widegren and Ruth May (Tainter) Widegren.Married on 17 Dec 1949, in Worcester, MA, to Floyd Goodwin Folsom, Jr.,who was b. 23 May 1926, to Floyd Goodwin Folsom, Sr. and GraceMarshall (Noyes) Folsom in Lawrence, MA, d. 22 May 2015.Phyllis May (Widegren) Folsom passed peacefully at her home in Alfred,Maine, on January 25, 2022 after 98 years of life, into the arms of herSavior, Jesus Christ, and then was swept up to be reunited with the love ofher life, Bill Folsom (Floyd Jr.). They married on December 17, 1949 aftermeeting while they were both living in Boston and finishing their education.Phyllis went to Forsyth Dental School, and Bill went to Boston University.Phyllis and Bill celebrated milestone anniversaries at 50 years, 60 years,and 65 years of marriage. They raised three children, Todd ChristopherFolsom, Jill Candace Folsom, and Virginia May Folsom (McCluskey).Grandchildren are Katrina Jane Folsom, Craig Owen Folsom, JessicaCandace (Bonina) Sutera, Jennifer (Bonina) Noseworthy, Jolene (Bonina)Peixoto, and Samantha May McCluskey. They have twogreat-grandchildren, Isabel Ann Noseworthy and Olivia May Noseworthy.Phyllis and Bill lived in Lawrence, MA with their son Todd who was bornthere in 1951, until Bill got a job at General Electric in Schenectady, NY.They built their house there on Quackenbush Road in 1952. Jill was born in1953 and Ginny followed in 1955. They lived in Schenectady until 1964when they moved to Norwalk, CT so Bill could work in New York City forInternational GE. Phyllis worked at HoneyHill Elementary School in thelibrary. In 1968, they moved to a new house in Topsfield, MA when Billtransferred to GE in Lynn. Phyllis and Bill lived in Topsfield until 2009 whenthey moved to Maine to be near their camp on Mousam Lake in Acton andto live in a new home in Alfred that was designed to be their retirementhome until they both passed. Bill died in May 2015, and Phyllis resided inher house in Alfred in winter and at her camp in Acton in summer with thecompanionship of caregivers Brandy, Donna and JoAnn and weekendcaregiving from her daughter Jill, who lived in Gloucester MA. After a shortinterlude at Huntington Common in Kennebunk, Phyllis returned to herAlfred home for hospice care.Phyllis was a proud grandmother to triplets, granddaughters who were bornin 1979, and she helped care for them upon their release from the neonatalintensive care hospital. Jessica, Jennifer, and Jolene were very happy to bewith their grandparents as often as possible when they were children, andthey still enjoy time at Mousam Lake with Isabel and Olivia, twogreat-granddaughters who now live in Indiana with their parents. Heryoungest granddaughter Samantha was often cared for by hergrandparents in Maine since she lived with her parents Ginny and SteveMcCluskey across the street until they moved to Minnesota in 2008.Samantha recalls many happy hours baking and sewing and learning withher grandmother after school. Katrina and Craig enjoyed visits with theirgrandparents at Mousam Lake in Maine and in North Carolina where theylived with their parents, Todd Folsom and Carol Wilcox.Phyllis practiced as a dental hygienist until the births of her children andrelocation to upstate New York. Phyllis and Bill were faithful lifelongchurchgoers who dedicated many hours to helping their chosen churchesthroughout their lives. Phyllis focused on women's fellowship groups inserving the church and providing for the needy. She was a talentedseamstress and made many quilts which she sold to benefit her churches.She sewed clothing for her family, including fine tailoring, lingerie andswimsuits, Easter outfits including suits, coats, smocked dresses, andoutfits in multiples of three for her triplet granddaughters.Phyllis was a lifelong naturalist who taught her children and her Camp FireGirls about ferns, lichens, wildflowers, and native woodland species, aswell as birds, trees, and garden plants. She volunteered for the ParsonCapen House in Topsfield MA and recreated an herb garden for this firstperiod antique home. While living in Topsfield she often brought family onwalks in a nature sanctuary featuring a rockery where she would have youstand very still with birdseed on your outstretched hand so chickadeeswould alight on your fingers and eat from your hand.She enjoyed rockhounding with her children and participated in unearthinga substantial topaz cache on Lord Hill, Maine. Phyllis loved visiting sitesfrequented by rockhounds in Maine, including the former silver mine sites inActon, and the gemstone sites near Paris, ME. She started her childrenrockhounding at the Herkimer, NY, "diamond" mines and finding fossils inslate at Thacher State Park.Phyllis was an excellent baker and her desserts were legendary; she oftenmade pies for bean suppers at her church and her blueberry pies werecreated after the style of Bill's grandfather Orrin Noyes, a blueberry farmerand lobsterman from Jonesboro, ME. Orrin would pull up the top crust andadd more sugar to his slice, and if it was at all sour, he would say"Gooseberries!" and heap on more sugar. She made brown bread in coffeecans the old school way, and she baked cookies and desserts for everymeal.Phyllis was Archivist for the Folsom Family Association and managed thefamily archives in Exeter, NH. She assisted Bill in planning and runningseveral of the annual meetings for the Folsom Family Reunions that tookplace in the Northeast while her husband was President of the FFA. Shealso researched the genealogy of her Tainter and Hunt relatives and wasattempting to trace the family lineage from Sweden on her father's side.She was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution and adescendant of John and Priscilla Alden who voyaged to America on theMayflower.Phyllis worked in elementary and middle school libraries in CT and MA, andthe library processing center in North Andover MA. Her lifelong love ofbooks and reading led her to create several church libraries in order toprovide quality reading material about the Christian faith for churches inMassachusetts and most recently at the Acton Congregational Church inActon, ME.Phyllis was sister to Carolyn Woods (Widegren) Milley. As children, Phyllisand Carolyn were fortunate to summer in the Ocean Park, Wells, andKennebunk area with their parents, and they often brought a bicycle toshare. As a young person, Phyllis spent one summer boarding inKennebunk in order to work in a local gift shop, and she fondly recalled hertime there bicycling to the beach after work and enjoying her time in Maine.In her later years, Phyllis lived at Huntington Common in Kennebunk in theReminiscence unit, joined by her sister Carolyn, who passed in December2020.Phyllis had the gift of teaching, and she shared her skills freely with thoseinterested in learning to quilt, stencil, press flowers, sew fine clothing, oridentify local flora. She ran sewing classes for students at the Christianschool associated with her church in Boxford and often held quiltingclasses at her home. With her interest in antiques, she maintained hergrandmother's collection of pitchers and added to it at local auctions sheattended with her husband.Mousam Lake was the happiest place on earth for Phyllis, and she cravedtime there when living far away in New York and Connecticut, and s Shewas ever so happy to relocate to Massachusetts and then Maine in order tobe a short drive from her beloved camp on the Acton side of the lake. Shewalked the woods often, showed people her favorite places, and developedthe passion for Maine lakes among many of her friends and familymembers. Swimming in the clear waters was a daily event and she made itinto the lake every summer until 2020. Phyllis visited the lake right up to theend of her life.Phyllis was fortunate to have a faithful caregiver and companion, BrandyWalsh, who remained a devoted friend for her lifetime, after starting to carefor Phyllis at home in 2015 after the passing of her husband, Bill, andcontinuing through Phyllis' residency at Huntington Common from lateMarch 2019 until January 4, 2022. Brandy was able to partner with Jill incaregiving for Phyllis at her Alfred home, providing expert care for themonth of January 2022 to ease Phyllis' passing into her eternal heavenlyhome. Many spiritual blessings were shared during these three weeks andPhyllis achieved resolution of her earthly concerns and assurance of herLord's forgiveness and her worthiness. She was welcomed home at 9:30pm on the evening of January 25, 2022.We appreciate the caring expertise and calm counsel of Southern MaineHospice, and specifically wish to commend Stephanie, Beth, Julie W, JulieG, Larry, Shirley, Lauren, Tina, and Cal.Memorial donations would be most meaningful if directed to SouthernMaine Hospice, Acton Congregational Church in Acton ME, Mousam LakeRegion Association, a library of your choice, or any forest preservationeffort.A graveside service for Phyllis M. Folsom is planned for May 22, 2022during which a Navy footstone will be dedicated for Floyd G. Folsom, Jr.,seven years after his passing.
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