Viola May Phillips

Viola May (Nichols) Phillips, 88, of Windham, died Friday Feb. 4, 2011 at Regency Heights of Willimantic. She was born on Dec. 2, 1922 in Groton to Frank and Lulu J. (Bradley) Nichols. She moved to Willimantic when she was 7 years old, and attended a Catholic school in her youth. She met her husband, Austin Phillips, when Austin's mother and her own introduced the two of them to each other, and they were married in the Assembly of God Church. After they married, Austin worked for his father delivering gas and later selling refrigerators and stoves. Viola was a stay at home wife, who enjoyed her soap operas, and also later joined the Willimantic Seventh-day Adventist Church. When a church friend who often visited her in her later years asked Viola, "Did you pray today?" she answered, "I gave my life to the Lord when I was 7 and never took it back." During the last few years, church friends and her sister-in-law Bobbie Brown, spent time with her celebrating birthdays, going shopping, or out to eat. Viola went into the hospital on March 9, 2009, and moved from there to the Regency Heights, where she lived since March 20, 2009. She is survived by her two sisters-in-law, Bobbie Brown of Mansfield Center and Doris Surridge and her husband Fredrick, of Chaplin. Her family will receive friends at Potter Funeral Home, 456 Jackson St. (Rte. 195) Willimantic on Tuesday Feb. 8th beginning at 1:30 with the funeral service at 2:00pm. Pastor Skip Johnson of the Seventh Day Adventist Church will officiate. Due to winter conditions at the New Willimantic Cemetery, the interment will take place privately. For online memorial guestbook, please visit www.potterfuneralhome.com .