Phyllis Elaine (Merriam) Erickson

Phyllis Elaine (Merriam) Erickson died peacefully at Alliance Health in Baldwinville on July 4, 2026, at the age of 95. Phyllis was born on February 16, 1931, in Winchendon, MA, the 9 th descendant of Nathan Meriam, whose home sits on Meriam’s Corner on the outskirts of Minuteman National Park in Concord, MA. She lived in Jaffrey, NH until the age of 3, and then moved to Baldwinville, MA to live with her great-grandparents. Phyllis remained living in Baldwinville for her entire life, living on the same street for 89 years.

After graduating from Templeton High School in 1949, she began her working career at Gem Crib and Cradle Co. in Gardner, MA. On May 10, 1952, she married her high school sweetheart, Roger, just months before he left to serve in the Korean War. After her father’s passing in 1964, Phyllis worked tirelessly for 23 years as her mother’s sole caretaker, spent countless hours cooking, cleaning, canning, and freezing garden vegetables, hosting family holiday events, doing lawn care and snow removal, knitting, and tackling dozens of home decorating projects. During family drives about the Northeast region of the United States and Canada, Phyllis oversaw the reading of map routes and navigated the turns to tour places such as Niagara Falls, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Her other travels brought her to Bermuda, Florida, Aruba, Sweden, and Alaska.

Phyllis will always be remembered as the “lunch lady” at East Templeton and Templeton Elementary schools, where fresh home-cooked meals and desserts were served to students every day. After about a decade of wearing an apron, she was offered the position of Treasurer for the Narragansett Regional School District. She accomplished this challenge without any formal education and learned how to process payroll, apply for grants, handle benefits and balance the school budget for approximately 10 years.

Phyllis retired at the age of 61 and enjoyed her life at home, occasionally traveling to various places with family, neighbors, and friends, and spending time with her family. She also continued to operate her personal animal rescue service. She loved cats and was never without at least one in her home and countless others who just stopped by for a meal on her porch. Phyllis enjoyed feeding her backyard birds. Once, she took in an abandoned baby opossum and even rescued a stray parakeet once, whom she heard talking on her clothesline one day. He soon learned to say his name as “Pretty Bird, Cheap Bird” after she told him he was not an expensive bird to buy. Phyllis also often bragged about “her” raccoons who stopped by at night, as well as numerous bear families, deer, rabbits, and other wildlife who wandered about her field every day. Phyllis especially enjoyed swimming in the ocean, floating over giant waves and getting “swamped” trying to escape. Her favorite hobby was riding her Schwinn bike around the neighborhood. She had a laptop, used email and online billpaying services and played online games and Scrabble throughout the latter years of her life.

Phyllis was a member of the Memorial Congregational Church in Baldwinville for most of her life. She was an honorary deacon, member of the choir and Ames More Guild and volunteered to work at nearly every fundraising event that was held on behalf of the church. She helped run the senior bingo games at the Baldwinville American Legion and then attended events at the Templeton Senior Center after it was built. She also participated for several years in the annual Dollars for Scholars variety show for Narragansett Regional High School’s graduating seniors.

Phyllis was preceded in death by her husband, Roger Erickson, her father, Everett H. Merriam, her mother, Tina Ellena “Lena” (Syria) Merriam, her son, Mark D. Erickson, and her brother, Robert E. Merriam, as well as all her sisters and brothers-in-law on both sides of the family. 

She is survived by her daughter, Sally Erickson of Baldwinville; her granddaughter, Stephanie (Duda) Palma of Phillipston, grandsons: Brian Duda of Madison, Alabama, Marcus Erickson of Nashua, NH, and Ryan Erickson of Athol, MA; four great-grandchildren: Alivia Lafferty, Lia Palma, Cayden and Trevor Erickson, plus 6 nieces and 5 nephews.

Donations may be made in Phyllis’ memory to Ahimsa Haven Animal Rescue at 273 Central St, Winchendon, MA 01475 or at https://www.ahimsahaven.org/ or to the Memorial Congregational Church at PO Box 100, Baldwinville, MA 01436 or to the Activities Fund at Alliance Health at Baldwinville at 51 Hospital Rd, Baldwinville, MA 01436.

A graveside service will be held on September 23, 2026, at 1:30pm at Greenlawn Cemetery, 39 Bridge St in Baldwinville, MA. There are no calling hours.