By Carol Britton Meyer

Lifelong Hull resident Joseph Elisii, 90, will be dearly missed by his family, his many friends around town, and by those to whom he so readily lent a helping hand over the years.

The energetic nonagenarian was cutting his grass and weeding at his beloved Strawberry Hill home two weeks before his passing on Sept. 28, his daughter, Marguerite Elisii, told The Hull Times.

“He was very independent,” she said.

Mr. Elisii was born and grew up in the house on H Street that his father built after his parents, Giuseppe and Aida, immigrated to Hull from Italy in the 1920s.

From an early age, he helped his father with his landscaping business, which eventually grew into a general contracting business.

After moving from H Street, Mr. Elisii built the house on Strawberry Hill, where he lived with his wife, Marianne, and their two children, Marietta and Marguerite, who recalls taking an occasional family trip to Italy to visit their relatives.

She described her father as a healthy, hardworking man, with a strong work ethic who loved Hull so much that he rarely left town.

“His idea of taking a trip was to travel to Quincy!” she said.

Working hard and saving money “was his mantra for his entire life,” explained Marguerite, who moved back to Hull nine years ago to be closer to her father.

“He worked from the day he stood up, doing landscaping until he went to college, and served in the Army,” according to his daughter. After Mr. Elisii got out of the service, he and his father started a general contracting business, doing work for the Town of Hull and residents and businesses in town until his father retired at age 89.

Their work varied, from digging ditches and laying foundations to building homes and paving driveways.

“You name it, they did it,” Marguerite Elisii said.

Mr. Elisii also retired when his father did to take care of his parents and to participate in Hull Lions Club activities, including delivering medical equipment to residents who needed it. His father was 102 when he died, and Aida lived to her 90s.

After his parents’ passing, Mr. Elisii, who was a senior himself, dedicated the rest of his life to helping the elderly in town, driving them to medical appointments and assisting whenever he could.

Every morning until the pandemic, he enjoyed a cup of coffee with a group of friends at Weinberg’s Bakery, then went off to Hull Gut to watch the boats go by while eating his daily banana.

He also frequented Hull restaurants for dinner and enjoyed cruising around town in his big white Mercury Marquis, greeting friends and neighbors with a wave of his hand and a big smile.

Among his favorite activities was spending time with Marguerite’s son, Joseph, and walking her dog, Danny, a mini-Labradoodle, sometimes a couple of times a day when Marguerite was at work. Mr. Elisii also has three other grandchildren who don’t live in the area.

He also greatly enjoyed hanging out with his many friends on a regular basis beyond his daily visit to the bakery.

“Unfortunately, my father outlived most of them, which was sad,” Marguerite said. “What he loved best about Hull was living in a small town where everyone knows one another. It was a very simple life, [which he enjoyed greatly].”

Mr. Elisii will be most remembered by his fellow Hullonians as a generous man who helped others whenever he could.