Phyllis H. Hola

Waltham - Mrs. Phyllis H. (Volz) Hola, Of Waltham, died Thursday, June 10, 2010 in Waltham Crossings. She was 90.

Phyllis was born on November 30, 1919 in Dayton, Ohio a daughter of the late Charles and Hazel (Hunt) Volz. She lived most of her life in the Dayton area before moving to Franklin, Massachusetts in 1985 and later to Waltham in 2000 after the death of her late husband.

She worked for many years as a secretary for the United States Military. Her career began at the Wright – Patterson United States Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. She also worked in the Medical Unit at Cape Kennedy where she met the astronauts before they took off on the Gemini and Apollo projects. She finished her career in the Chaplains' Office at Fort Eustis Military Base in Newport News, Virginia. Collectively, she worked for 31 years before retiring in 1984.

Phyllis and her late husband enjoyed following politics and kept up to date through news programs, magazines and newspapers. She was an avid reader and in her later years took up knitting. She’ll always be remembered as a ‘second grandmother’ to neighborhood children and would often take young friends to the Waltham Philharmonic Holiday Pops Concerts. Above all she treasured time with her family.

Her husband of 60 years, Steven Hola died in May of 2000. She was also predeceased by her son, Steven J. Hola and her siblings, Kathryn Alio, Lowell Volz, Albert Volz, Marguerite Mehaffey and Cyril Volz.

She leaves her daughter, Stephanie J. Schaffhausen and her husband, Brian, of Waltham; her grandchildren, Joanna Schaffhausen and her husband, Garrett Rooney, of Dedham and Alexander Schaffhausen and his fiancé, Stacie Murphy, of Falls Church, Virginia. She enjoyed meeting her great-granddaughter, Eleanor Rooney this past year.

Family and friends will honor and remember Phyllis’ life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Monday from 7 to 9 p.m. and again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning when her funeral service will be held. Burial will follow in Grove Hill Cemetery.