Joyce Beverly Merrill - age: 77
(May 05, 1939 to June 20, 2016
)
Resident of
Saco, Maine
Visitation Information:
At Joyce’s request, there will be no funeral service or calling hours. However, to Joyce candles spoke deeply. She was partly Swedish, and the Swedish candle is “levande Ijus”, which means living light. So please light a candle in memory of Joyce and think upon living light.
Burial will be at Acote Cemetery in Gloucester, RI. Contributions in memory of Joyce Merrill may be sent to the Animal Welfare Society, P. O. Box 43, Kennebunk, ME 04094 or MaineHealth Care at Home, 15 Industrial Park Road, Saco, ME 04072. Dennett, Craig and Pate Funeral and Cremation, 365 Main Street, Saco are in charge of the arrangements.
A memorial gathering is scheduled for Saturday, July 30 from 3-5pm at the United Baptist Church of Saco.
Obituary:
SACO – Joyce “Miss Joyce” Merrill, 77. of Cross Street, died June 20, 2016 at the Maine Medical Center in Portland from respiratory failure and other complications following a fall at home. For some years she had also been dealing with symptoms of a Parkinsons-like disorder. Her parents, now deceased, were Frederick Augustus and Helen May Cleveland Merrill of Providence, RI.
Joyce was born in Providence and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School there. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design and graduated from Fitchburg (MA) State College with a major in early childhood education and pursued graduate work in that field. After first working as a pre-school educator in Rhode Island, Joyce became the director and teacher at the Little Folks Nursery School, sponsored by the United Baptist Church of Saco. She retired in 2004. For her 29 years of devoted, sensitive and creative teaching, Joyce will be remembered by many parents and children for whom she was “Miss Joyce”. Joyce also contributed her teaching skills and artistic talents to her church, the First Parish Congregational Church of Saco and received an award for “Excellence in Teaching” from the National Education Division of the United Church of Christ.
Joyce was also a member for over 50 years of the Signet Chapter #21, Order of the Eastern Star of Cranston, RI.
For years, Joyce maintained booths at Arundel Antiques Village and Wells Antiques and Collectibles, and exhibited at antique shows at Kennebunk, Bath, Laudholm Farm and Dover, NH. Previously, Joyce created many different craft items, mostly wooden for craft fairs in Rhode Island and Maine.
Throughout her life, Joyce was animated by a love of art. In addition, she was fascinated with the life of Queen Elizabeth I, her heroine, and also by Mexican and South American arts and crafts. She also loved the beaches, islands, sailing and seafoods of Maine, and reading about the whaling history of New England.
Joyce also loved four animals she lived with: the dogs Betsy and Doobie, and the cats Duffy and Molly.
Joyce is survived by her sister Jean Merrill Balderston, Ed.D., and her brother-in-law David C. Balderston, Ed.D., of New York City and first cousins Lisa Gerrish of Brewster, MA, Carolyn Evans of Camarillo, CA, Ellen Bruce of Easton, MA, James Cates of Jacksonville, FL and Sven Erik Selander of Weston, CT.
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