Lucille Neill, 86, lifelong resident of Waitsfield and most recently of Northfield at Mayo Residential Care, passed peacefully in the company of her son and daughter on Sunday, December 8, 2019, at Central Vermont Medical Center. She was born Lucille Palmer to Harry and Shirley (Corliss) Palmer on October 5, 1933, in Waitsfield. One of eight children, she was raised on a farm in Waitsfield. The farm remains in the family to this day. Her siblings Carlos, Sidney and Theron predeceased her in childhood. Her brothers, Corliss and Donald, predeceased her as well as her sister, Jenny (Palmer) Messer. She is survived by her younger sister, Margery Bennett.
Lucille, “Lucy,” attended the former Putnam Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Bennington becoming a licensed practical nurse. She married Donald H. Neill on May 18, 1957, in Waitsfield, which made her the wife of a farmer as well as the daughter of one. She stopped formally working as a nurse following the birth of her children but was the unofficial nurse to many in town who would call upon her for help. She cared for her mother-in-law, her mother and her husband through their long-term illnesses.
She worked hard all of her life and side by side with Don on the farm. She routinely helped her father-in-law with milking the cows when Don was on the “egg route.” She helped hay; gathered, washed and graded eggs; drove a tractor; fed two families with one vegetable garden; and enjoyed her flower gardens. She later worked side by side with Don when he worked at Waitsfield Elementary School doing maintenance and as bus driver. She rode the bus and aided in monitoring the children, and they were both remembered very fondly by former students.
She loved to cook and bake. It was not uncommon for her children to return home from school to smell bread baking and find the counters laden with cookies, pies and doughnuts. Lucy loved country western music and loved to sing. She taught her children old songs, and in her last years she entertained and sparked warm memories of fellow residents at Mayo with an impromptu singalong. She was well loved by her community and known for her sense of humor, which was a constant thread throughout her life. She was a member of Waitsfield United Church of Christ, where she participated in the life of the church with her baked goods, chicken pies and more.
She leaves behind her son, Bryan and his wife Susan, Waitsfield; their children, Shannon Neill, Fayston, and Jessica Litchfield, Bakersfield; her grandson-in-law, Ian, and their twin boys, Logan and Hunter, Lucy’s only great-grandchildren. She is survived by her daughter, Deb Burbank, Berlin, and grandsons, Ben Burbank, Anchorage, Alaska, and Tim Burbank, Berlin. Her beloved husband, Don, passed away on June 21, 2008. Her son-in-law and one of her favorite “victims” in pranks, Bub Burbank, predeceased her in 2016.
Graveside services will be held in the spring from the Waitsfield Village Cemetery with a date and time to be announced. Memorial gifts can be made to the Mad River Valley Ambulance Service, P.O. Box 305, Waitsfield, VT 05673, or to Mayo Healthcare, 71 Richardson Street, Northfield, VT 05663. (https://mayohc.org/donate/). Assisting the family is Perkins-Parker Funeral Home and Cremation Service in Waterbury. To send online condolences visit www.perkinsparker.com or the funeral home Facebook page.
