Lilian Joan Merrill

Lilian Joan Merrill, a longtime resident of Hull, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Thursday, December 28, 2023.  She was 91.

She was born in Liverpool, England to Elizabeth (Fitzsimons) and Joseph Glenfeadon Gwilliam.  After graduating high school in Liverpool, Joan began working for the Dunlop Rubber Company, where she worked in quality control and was voted “Ms. Dunlop”.  She met her husband, Lorenzo Dennis Merrill, when he was serving in the US Airforce and stationed in the UK.  The two were married and started a family in the UK and then moved to Dorchester where she would make many lifelong friends.

When Joan moved to the states, she began her career as a mental health worker with Boston State Hospital where she would retire after 30 years.  In 1976, she moved to Hull with family where she would remain for the rest of her life.  She adored living by the beach and took advantage of living so close to the ocean.

In her spare time, being a fashionista, Joan enjoyed her shopping.  At home, she enjoyed knitting, playing scrabble and was quite the movie buff.

Joan had a quiet resilience and strength that was admired by those that knew her.  She was a cancer survivor and her family’s backbone.  She was always everyone’s stronghold. She was a beautiful person with a friendly disposition and will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

Adoring wife of 43 years to the late Lorenzo Merrill.  Devoted mother to Stephen Merrill and his wife Peggy of Plymouth, Michael Merrill and his partner Christine Clark of Holbrook, Christine Gunter of Weymouth and her late husband, James, Kevin Merrill and his wife Chrissy DeFilippo of Somerville and Donna Merrill of Hull. Cherished grandmother to Kevin, Steven, Daniel, Samantha, Stuart and Kevin Plunkett and great grandmother to Jordyn, Johnathan, Everet, Aylah and Cristian. Also survived by her beloved niece, Joan Gwilliam Alcock, many nieces and nephews and her constant companion, Bella.  Predeceased by her parents, Elizabeth (Fitzsimons) and Joseph Glenfeadon Gwilliam, her siblings Joseph Gwilliam, William Gwilliam, Arthur Gwilliam, Doreen “Betty” Gwilliam, and Norman Gwilliam, and her best friends, Ruth Frank, Mary Dodd, Linda Doyle and Marie Long.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the funeral service at 11 AM on Tuesday, January 9^th at the Pyne Keohane Funeral Home, 21 Emerald Street, HINGHAM. The burial will be private at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Joan’s name may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.