Lifelong Blufftonian Mary O. Merrick honored for dedication

By Gwyneth J. Saunders CONTRIBUTOR

When Mary Olive Pinckney Merrick’s name is mentioned – usually shortened to “Mary O” – longtime residents know who she is, and frequently can say “I recall the time when” she had a particular impact on their lives.

A teacher and defender of the region’s natural resources, Merrick grew up on her family farm, known as Calhoun Plantation, next to the Colleton River. Her dedication to her family, faith, students, community and Bluffton’s natural rich beauty was recognized April 11 with a ceremony giving her a place on the Town’s Wall of Honor in the Theodore D. Washington Municipal Building.

Merrick was highly intelligent. She graduated top of her class from Bluffton High School in 1937. She also graduated from Florida State Univer- sity at the age of 19, taught school in Florida, and also became a chemist for Union Camp in Savannah.

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“She was the smartest person I’ve ever known. Even now,” said her daughter, Priscilla Coleman. “She was very much an environmentalist. She did a lot for the county and the area to preserve the river.”

Merrick fought several industrial efforts to build manufacturing plants on Victoria Bluff and protected her childhood property from development.

Coleman said those efforts included keeping the chemical corporation BASF and Baron Yachts from building factories in the area.

Watching the increase in development around Pinckney Colony, Merrick signed development rights to the Beaufort County Open Land Trust to preserve the land, and encouraged

HONOR from page 12A others to follow her lead.

Merrick and her husband, Edwin, raised five children on the family farm. Coleman remembered they often went camping with her father, who taught them fly-fishing.

Merrick taught math and science for 30 years at Bluffton High School and McCracken High School. A number of former students – not just her children – were present at the ceremony.

She not only championed the causes of clean water, clean air, and controlled development, but also equity based on ability as she recruited and mentored numerous students to these causes.

Family friend and classmate Wiley Inglis had Merrick for math, science, physics, chemistry and algebra.

“She was my teacher for five years. I remember one time, she went to the office to take care of some paperwork and while she was gone, we took a beaker and put a drop of everything in the chemistry lab in it,” said Inglis. “When she got back to the room, she asked, ‘What’s that smell?’”

Town councilmen Fred Hamilton and Larry Toomer were among her many students.

“She was an awesome lady, awesome teacher. She taught me a lot, and I am just totally humbled that she is being recognized with the Wall of Honor,” said Toomer. “She was my math teacher. I was good with numbers, and understanding math has helped me more in life than anything I learned from other teachers, not that I didn’t like them. Being able to look at numbers and do math in my head without a computer or pencil has helped me tremendously throughout my life.”

Hamilton described her as a teacher that was part of “the Village.”

“She was one of those teachers that followed you from school to home, was very committed to you being obedient as well as being studious in and out of class,” said Hamilton. “She was truly gifted in that respect and gained a lot of respect because she showed love in and outside of the classroom. I’d see her in the grocery store or other places and she would always make sure my behavior was always in line. It wasn’t always, but I straightened up when I saw her.”

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka, who knew Merrick and made the presentation, had a story to tell on her two council colleagues.

“Years ago, I had Fred and Larry on council and these [council chamber] doors opened up. You felt like you’re in a movie. They opened up and here’s this light, and here’s Mary O. walking down with her cane,” Sulka said. “And those two men straightened their backs. It was visible. They’re like ‘Yes, ma’am. Anything.’ It was precious. That shows what kind of person she was. People just had such respect for her – whether they learned under her or learned around her.”

Hamilton’s football coach was Howard Merrick, one of Mary O’s sons.

“She was very caring, demanding and religious,” said Howard. “She loved her kids. She was very supportive and she loved her husband. She was very much a mother. That’s why her initials are M.O.M.”

Merrick was known to speak her mind, according to daughter-in-law Diane who is married to Chuck Merrick. The couple own UPick Daffodils at the Daffodil Farm.

“I remember one time Mr. McCracken, who was principal, was running for something about 50 years ago. He was calling all of his teachers to see if they would vote for him, and she had the courage to tell him no. She thought it was about time for someone else to run. She spoke her mind but she wasn’t rude about it,” said Diane Merrick. “She was a proponent of Sun City, and she was a hard-working woman. She wasn’t at all pretentious, and she was really very humble. She was quietly powerful.”

Merrick died at her home Feb. 24, 2014.