Thelma V. Meritt

Thelma V. (Cooper) Meritt, 100, Nevada, passed away on Sunday, Sept. 16, 2012, at Christian Health Care in Nevada. She was born Oct. 19, 1911, near Ballard, Mo., in Bates County, Mo., to Dewitt T. Cooper and Jennie May Gartin Cooper. On Aug. 25, 1935, she married Forest E. Meritt in Nevada. He preceded her in death on July 10, 1996.

Thelma lived all of her life in Missouri except two years in Los Angeles, Calif. She graduated from Cottey College and later worked 20 years at the Nevada State Hospital as a medical record technician, retiring from there in December 1974. She was a member of the First Christian Church, Nevada, since 1950. She was a former member of the B.P.W., the Lend-a Hand Club, Wayside Club, and Widows Group of the First Christian Church. She was president of the Christian Women's Association for five years and president of the Bi-Co. Club for two years.

Survivors include her son, Forest Eugene, Meritt, of the home; nieces, Beverly Freitag, rural Stockton, Mo., Rhonda McGrath; a special niece, Patty Kikendall; nephews, Ray Cross and his wife, Kim, Matthew Cross and his wife, Hollee; and other nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother, Gilmer Cooper; her sister, Vivian Shannon; her husband, Forest; and one niece, Margaret Cross.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19, at Ferry Funeral Home, Nevada. Interment will follow in Newton Burial Park, Nevada. Friends may call now and until the hour of service and the family receives friends from 6-7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the funeral home.

Those who wish may contribute, in her memory, to the First Christian Church, Nevada, in care of Ferry Funeral Home.

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