Lillian M. (Spear) Merrill, 97, of Hudson passed on to her heavenly home on Sunday, December 15, 2024 at Sudbury Pines Extended Care. Born in Scituate on December 21, 1926, she was the last surviving offspring of the eleven children born to Roy Ellsworth Spear and Mary Emerson Cushman Spear, and a half sister and brother born to Roy's second wife, Helen. During her teen years, Lillian was adopted by Frederick L. and Gladys (Sargent) Adams of Framingham, and she graduated from Framingham High School in 1945 and from Forsyth, Boston's prestigious school for dental hygientists, in 1946. Lillian was proud of her profession and would work in the offices of dentists in Massachusetts and Florida.

On September 1, 1946, she married Richard M. Merrill, a decorated WWII veteran who was then a funeral director at the Merrill Funeral Home in Hudson. Mr. Merrill later re-enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and the couple spent the next 23 years at duty stations around the country, including Newport, Rhode Island, Key West, Florida, Great Lakes, Illinois, and San Diego, California, while raising their five children. In her later years, Lillian was employed as a nurse's aide and a private home care companion to the elderly.

A longtime parishoner at Greater Grace Christian Fellowship in Marlborough, Lillian enjoyed participating in church activities, which included events in New York state, Baltimore, and Las Vegas -- and even a trip to the Holy Land and Egypt. She was known for her generosity and willingness to help others, and she especially enjoyed sharing with her beloved family and church friends. Lillian enjoyed travelling to see her far-flung family and the special people in her life and making new memories. She also loved her hometown and the Scituate light, where she had spent many happy hours in her childhood, when her grandfather, John Cushman, was the last official keeper of the light. Lillian also loved her trips to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the beaches in Florida and California. Her adventures were captured for posterity through the many photographs she took and shared. She called photography "my thing," and was rarely without her camera. She kept up her strength for her adventures due to her love of eating. She especially enjoyed seafood, including the McFish sandwich (she was once miraculously revived by a McFish when she succumbed to the heat in Las Vegas) and KFC fried chicken. She also fond of her daily dish of ice cream.

Lillian was predeceased in her immediate family by her husband, Richard, her three sons, Richard Jr. of Connecticut, David of Utah, and Paul of Massachusetts, and her daughter, Deborah, who lived in Colorado for many years before moving to Kansas. She is survived by her oldest daughter, Donna Merrill, of Las Vegas, nine grandchildren (Rich, Dianne, Dan, Risa, Sarah, Michelle, James Patrick III, Kurgen, and David), 17 great-grandchildren (Abby, Adam, Brennan, Kayden, Jayson, Emily, Owen, Megan, Matthew, Cameron, Kristan, Julian, Karissa, Kelly, Ashley, James Patrick IV, and Shawn) and by two great-great granddaughters (Diana Alexis and Charlotte). She also leaves behind scores of loving nieces and nephews.