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MERRITT Roy B. of Fox Hill, Westwood, formerly of Chestnut Hill, died on August 25, 2009 at the age of 90. He was the loving husband of the late Mary E. (Henderson) Merritt; devoted father of Lydia Taylor and William Culp of White River Junction, VT, Debbie Garfield and Roy of Oakdale, CA, Kate Merritt of Sudbury, MA, Sayre B. Merritt and Esther of West Lebanon, NH; loving grandfather of Jenny Randolph Merritt of Lebanon, NH, David Merritt of West Lebanon, NH and Daniel and Melissa Merritt of Cornish, NH; and great grandfather of Kate Gasparro and Dominic Merritt. A dedicated teacher and coach, he devoted sixty years of service to children, teaching and coaching in prep school, college and public high school. After retiring Mr. Merritt served as a volunteer visiting poet in several public and private elementary schools, performing over 600 programs of his own verse for grades three through six.
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Mary E. Hay
Mr Merritt was one of my favorite teachers. I had him for English in the 9th grade. He used to read to us often in class from many of the classics, just enough to get us interested in the books. He helped me develop my love for reading. He was a great teacher and a very caring person!
Donna C. Nicholson (Flanigin)
Mr Merritt recounted the depression-year story of his schoolmates surprising their teacher by opening their desks at a prearranged signal, with each student retrieving a precious piece of fruit and rolling it down the aisle. Division 8-2 recreated his memory by doing just that! My lasting memory of his reading out loud was his sound-effects of every comma, period, question mark, and, my favorite, exclamation points. After moving from Little Rock to Quincy, my daughter attended North. When I began to 're-introduce myself during a school function, he recognized me before I said a word. What a stellar educator!
Malcolm Dougherty
Mr Merritt said two things that made a lasting impression on me other than the english class. First he wanted us to read, anything. He didn't insist that it be good literature just anything we enjoyed. That was a relief as the good literature just didn't turn me on very much. Then as my goal in life at that point was to play third base for the red sox, he made sure I understood how very few made it to professional ball and that I should have a backup plan. He had either played profesionally or tried to (I forget) and went to his plan B. It was very personal and stuck with me.