Emma Merritt

Emma Merritt, 75, died Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at Avera McKennan Hospital, Sioux Falls. Funeral service will be 11:00am Monday, October 20, 2008 at First Baptist Church, Chancellor with burial at St. Christina Cemetery, Parker. Visitation will be Sunday at Hofmeister-Jones Funeral Home, Parker with family present from 4-6:00pm Sunday. Emma E. Beadle was born on December 18, 1932 at Little Rock, AR to parents whom where both deaf, Charles Pierce and Ruth Mae (Brashear) Beadle. In 1942 the family moved to Tulsa, OK and from 1946-1951 she was raised in a home for girls, the Frances E. Willard Home, graduating from Will Rogers High School in 1951. She was a civilian employee for the Airforce with Douglas Aircraft when she met and was united in marriage to Eldon Merritt on May 22, 1954 at Tulsa. In 1964 they moved to Parker where they raised their seven children. She had been employed as the manager of Turner Village and was an interpreter for Communication Services for the Deaf. They moved to Primrose in Sioux Falls in 2006. She was a member of First Baptist Church, Chancellor. Grateful for having shared her life are her husband Eldon; 4 sons, Dan and wife Marjorie, Yankton, Gary and wife Gloria, Westminster, CO, David and wife Laurie, Sioux Falls, and Jim and wife Cindy, Brookings; 3 daughters, Lori Cones and husband John, Chandler, AZ, Kathleen Hursh and husband David, Shell Knob, MO, and Cheryl Merritt, Sioux Falls; 19 grandchildren and a great granddaughter; a brother Edward Beadle, Edina, MN; and a sister Mary Cooke, Glen Oaks, NY. She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister Pollie, and 2 brothers, Charles and James.