A town tradition: Generous Derry benefactor gets her wish

DERRY — It’s been an annual tradition since 1975. Members of the Trustees of the Trusts to go to Forest Hill Cemetery and pay their respects to one former Derry resident.

This year the trustees — Craig Corbett, Craig Cunningham, and Jeffrey Strakalaitis — carefully planted five purple and yellow petunias around the grave site of Helen Noyes on May 22.

Every Memorial Day, a brand new American flag flies over Forest Hill Cemetery, thanks to a bequest established by Noyes. All she asked in return was for flowers to be planted at her gravesite before Memorial Day each year.

“Who’s going to know that Helen Noyes set up a fund for the new flag every year?” Cunningham said.

Noyes died at the Elliot Hospital on June 4, 1975, at the age of 90. She had been First Parish Congregational Church’s school superintendent for 25 years and a teacher for many more. She also financed the church’s new building and had one of the structures named for her.

Corbett said that for the past few years it’s only been him and his children coming out to honor Noyes’ requests.

Cunningham lauded residents like Noyes, saying it’s because of Derry residents like her that so much in town is able to happen. He said there’s a sense of community where people help each other, and do nice things for their fellow residents.

In Noyes’s case, that was honoring those who fought and died for American freedom. Strakalaitis said she was very civic-minded, and it shows in her donation to town.

“(Derry residents) don’t realize the positive impact in town individuals have made,” Cunningham said. “There’s probably a thousand stories like hers in here.”