Mary Etheridge Merritt

Mrs. Mary Alice Etheridge Merritt, 87, of Tega Cay, S.C. and Charlotte, N.C., died Thursday, November 5, 2015, at CMC-Pineville. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, with the Revs. Michael Sciretti and Ken Bryant officiating. A reception will follow at the church. A graveside service will be at 2:30 p.m. at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk Born in Pittsburg, Penn., Mrs. Merritt was a daughter of the late Herbert Carroll Etheridge and Emma Alice Melson. After the death of her parents, she was raised on Roanoke Island by her aunt and uncle, Annie and Thomas Baum. She earned her associate’s degree at Peace College in Raleigh, N.C. Mrs. Merritt was administrative assistant to the Dean of Sciences at Old Dominion University and retired after 27 years of employment. She was a longtime member of Freemason St. Baptist Church and Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill. Mrs. Merritt volunteered at Lake Wylie Lutheran Church in their weekly lunch program. She was a former president of the National P.T.A., legislative assistant for Delegate Howard Copeland, House of Delegates for Virginia. Mrs. Merritt loved to travel and enjoyed dancing. Surviving are her children, James E. Merritt, Jr. of Norfolk, Va. and Maryanne Merritt Celec (David) of Tega Cay; her brother, Herbert Etheridge of Danville, Va.; and granddaughter, Ashton Celec of Boone, N.C. She was preceded in death by her husband, James E. Merritt, Sr. (1978); and two sisters, Teresa Garrison and Wilma Heilman. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m., Tuesday, November 10, 2015 at H.D. Oliver Funeral Apartments on Colonial Avenue in Norfolk, Va.Read Obituary