Phillip Formel

LENOX - Phillip A. Formel, the patriarch of the Formel family in Berkshire County, and a well-known general contractor, passed away at his home in Lenox on Thursday, March 17th, 2011.
Phillip Adrian Formel was born January 28th, 1923, in Pittsfield, son of Fernando Augustus Formel and Lillian Smithson Formel. His father died when Phillip was just 4 years old, and he was raised by his mother, Lillian. He was a devout Roman Catholic and worshipped at St Mark's church where he was an altar boy for many years. He attended Pittsfield Public Elementary schools, and St. Joseph High School, where he was quarterback on the football team and graduated in 1941. Despite a burning desire to better himself, he had little hope of attending college because of financial reasons, and began working at the GE immediately after graduating. When World War II broke out, he enlisted in the Horse Cavalry, which still existed at the start of the War. As a boy, he had worked on horse farms and as a goalie judge for the local Pittsfield Horse Polo team, which explained his interest in the Horse Cavalry. Shortly after he joined the Calvary, it was disbanded and he was reassigned to the Army Postal Service in Alaska. His duties there kept him on the road for many days at a time as a liaison to the outlying post offices, and he was full of stories about traveling through what at that time was really a frontier. He was accepted into the Army Engineering school and attended Texas A&M, Manhattan College and Siena College, until the engineering program was abandoned and he was assigned to the 69th Infantry and was shipped to England in 1944. From England he was sent to France during the Battle of the Bulge, and from there pushed continuously through France, Belgium and Germany, participating, in amongst others, the Battle for Liepzig. He was proud of his service, and thankful for and took advantage of the opportunity to go to college after the War.
Upon returning to the states, he married his high school sweetheart, Norma Haskins, beginning a lifelong love affair, and they moved to Lansing, MI, where he graduated from Michigan State as a Mechanical Engineer, in 1950. The young couple moved back to the Berkshires and had a house built on Barker Road in Pittsfield, where they began their family, which produced 15 children.
After a short stint with National Radiator, and several years with Pittsfield General Electric, he began, with his cousin, a General Construction firm, based in Pittsfield. His projects were generally highly technical industrial jobs. In 1959, the company moved to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, where he built a nuclear test reactor at the University of Mayaguez, and a salt water reactor for the government in Rincon. He returned to the United States in 1960, bought out his cousin, and built a construction and metal fabrication yard in Housatonic in 1962. During this time, he took on the civic duty of being the Building Inspector in Lenox, and put the town's building code in place.
He kept close ties with Puerto Rico, and in 1974, again moved to Puerto Rico and continued his construction business there, performing primarily industrial and commercial construction. In 1981, together with some of his children, he began an interisland Maritime Shipping firm, owning and operating his own cargo ships. He left Puerto Rico in 1995 and returned to Lenox where he built two houses for himself and a number of condominiums in Lenox, as light work during his "retirement" years. He also had a house built in Homestead, Fla. where he and Norma resided.
He was a devout communicant at St Ann's Church in Lenox.
He was a brilliant, loving and serious man, and left a large footprint on our Earth. He will be missed by all who had the chance to know him.
He is survived by his wife, Norma Haskins Formel of Lenox, his 15 children, Michael Albert of Columbus, MS, Stephen Fernando of Claverack, NY, Phillip A. Jr. of Homestead, FL, Eugenie Formel of Becket, Shaun Joseph of Searcy, AR, Ann Frances Formel of North Chatham, NY, Mark Anselm of Great Barrington, Norma Frances Formel of York, PA, Kristina Marie Burkhart of Averill Park, NY, Brian Damian of Great Barrington, Richard Murray of Gainesville, FL, Paul Gilbert of Geneva, FL, Mary Formel Woodger of Stockbridge, Fernanda Meagher of Piedmont, CA, and Matthew James Joseph of New Orleans, LA.; 60 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his parents and his four siblings, Eugenie Phillips of Pittsfield, Dr. Paul Formel of Albany, NY, John Formel of Chicago, Il, and Robert Formel of Peachtree, GA.
FUNERAL NOTICE: The funeral will be Monday morning at 10 am from the ROCHE FUNERAL HOME followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 11 celebrated by the Rev. Christopher J. Waitekus, pastor. Burial will follow in St. Ann's Cemetery. Calling hours at the funeral home are Sunday from 1-4.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Formel's memory may be made to the Massachusetts Audubon Society in care of the funeral home, 120 Main Street, Lenox, MA 01240.