Viola Dell Lull

Viola Dell (Hersey) Lull, a resident of White Plains since 1951, died at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. Viola was born on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919, in Spink County, SD, to Arthur and Jessie Hersey. Her family moved to Nyack, NY in 1926, and then to New City, NY. She attended the New Paltz State Normal School in New York (1937-40). Viola taught at Hamilton, NY until her marriage to John Vernon Lull on June 25, 1941. They had four children: Joan (married to John Patterson), Arthur (who was married to Virginia Huston at the time of his death from cancer in his home in Oxbow, NY), David (married to Karen Cloyed), and Shirley (who died of a horseback riding accident in 1962 in White Plains, NY). Viola directed Girl Scout and YWCA summer camps in White Plains, NY, and Greenwich, CT. In Memorial United Methodist Church, White Plains, she taught Sunday School for many years, sang in the choir, was an advisor to the Jr. Methodist Youth Fellowship, was a president of the United Methodist Women, and served on the church's committee on inclusiveness. She retired in 1982 after teaching for 30 years at the Halsted School in Yonkers, NY, where she became Head of the Lower School. In her retirement, she continued her teaching by tutoring students for quite a number of years. She also became a basket maker and quilter, teaching both arts to others and selling some of her handwork, and making quilts for the babies at Bedford Hills prison. She was a faithful volunteer at the Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry in White Plains from 1983 to 2008. She was also a volunteer for the Roker Center and "The Watch" newspaper, and was actively involved in The Interfaithful of Memorial United Methodist Church and Congregation Kol Ami and The Interfaith Connection, which includes members who are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist. Her smile and her love were well-known in all of her groups. Viola was predeceased by her father (1982) and mother (1983), her husband (1994), her daughter Shirley (1962), her son Arthur (2002), and a grandson David Matthew Patterson (1975). She is survived by her sister May Hersey (New City, NY), her brother Ben Hersey (Barrington, RI), a daughter Joan (Rocky Mount, NC), a son David (Dubuque, IA), 6 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.