Shirley Ann Merrill

WATERFORD – Shirley Ann Merrill, 75, died April 14, 2025, surrounded by her family at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston after a brief illness.

She was born July 27, 1949, in Bridgton, the sixth of 14 children of Edgar E. and Margaret B. Merrill. She attended Waterford Memorial School and graduated from Oxford Hills High School in Paris in 1967.

In 1971, she graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington and began a 45-year career teaching third graders at Ethel Bisbee and Crescent Park elementary schools in Bethel. She was admired and respected for her devotion to her students and her profession.

Her teaching went beyond her classroom students to her younger siblings, nieces and nephews. She held summer camps at the Merrill Farm in South Waterford where she taught reading, writing, math, science, ecology, agriculture, cooking, biology, physiology, finances and human behavior.

There were also field trips to parks, beaches, playgrounds and other recreational sites. Treasured times were also spent playing in the Merrill Family Dollhouse her father built in 1956 with materials taken from the neighbor’s old chicken coop. The dollhouse was furnished with cabinets, appliances, kitchenware and dishes, table, chairs, dolls, and beds, dress-up clothes, jewelry, pocketbooks and shoes. Dollhouse pizzas were always on the menu.

For Shirley’s 75th birthday, the family surprised her by revealing the fully restored 69-year old dollhouse, complete with solar lights. It sits on a new foundation at the farm for generations to continue to enjoy.

Shirley was known and cherished for her love of family. No one was ever forgotten at Christmas, on birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, weddings, births, deaths, retirements, military service or other special occasions.

Each year, she would collect the latest pictures of most, if not all, of the 186 people in her immediate family, to create a collage for the Merrill Family Calendar. Every birthday and anniversary was on it, and a page listing every major family event that year.

Shirley was treasured by her family and friends for the hundreds of packages of Nana Bell’s molasses cookies she gave them on holidays, their special occasions, during college years and while serving in the military.

She had her own social media operation before she ever owned a computer: It was a phone, the USPS and her Chevrolet to communicate with her immediate family, cousins, aunts and uncles, and others too numerous to mention.

Her community, neighbors and civic and charitable organizations were the recipients of her kindness and generosity as well. Bags of food were left for the USPS annual end-hunger drive, casseroles were donated to the local VFW suppers, donations were made to the causes near to her and in memory of loved ones.

Besides teaching school, holding summer camps and hosting family celebrations at the farm, where she lived all her life, Shirley also cared for her parents in their latter years, and her sister Gail who lived there.

She is survived by siblings Robert L. Merrill and wife Beth of Beebe, Ark., Elizabeth Ouellette and husband Don of N. Eastham, Mass., Jane Jones of Norway, Mary Delamater of Oxford, Russell Merrill and wife Martha of Harrison, Raymond Merrill and wife Dorene of Waterford, Gail Merrill of Waterford, Bill Merrill and wife Penny of Paris, Karen Hill and husband Herb of Norway, Marcia Butters and husband John of Waterford and Jim Merrill and partner Pam Cox of Waterford.

She is also survived by sisters-in-law Cynthia Merrill of Concord, N.H. and Sharon Merrill of Rome, N.Y.

Other survivors are her many nieces, nephews; grandnieces and grandnephews; and great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.

She was predeceased by her brothers Richard Merrill of Concord, N.H. in 2022 and Edward Merrill of Rome, N.Y. in 2024.

Public visiting hours will be held on Thursday, Aug. 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Chandler-Oxford Hills Funeral Services, 1037 Main St., Oxford.

Graveside services for immediate family, cousins and close family friends will be held on Friday, Aug. 22, at 11 a.m. at Elm Vale Cemetery in South Waterford with a reception to follow at the Ronald St. John Community Center, 176 Waterford Rd. in Harrison.

Online condolences may be shared with her family at http://www.chandlerfunerals.com

Donations may be made to

Waterford Historical Society

P.O. Box 201

Waterford, ME 04088

and /or

Wilkins Community House

P.O. Box 59

Waterford, ME 04088