|
|
Nancy O. Merrill, 86
Former curator at the Chrysler Museum
Nancy Osborne Merrill, 86, died on May 30 in Virginia Beach, Va., after a long illness.
Born in Somerville on Nov. 26, 1920, she was a resident of Provincetown from childhood until l971, when, as Curator of Glass at the Chrysler Museum, she moved with the museum to the Norfolk, Va. area.
Ms. Merrill had long family ties to Provincetown. Her father, Daniel C. Merrill, was owner of the Gifford House and later president of the First National Bank of Provincetown. Her mother, Carrie Matheson Merrill, was a native of Provincetown and taught first grade here. Before beginning her career with the Chrysler Museum, Ms. Merrill was associated with her father in operating the Gifford House. She was educated in the public schools of Provincetown and Miami Beach, Fla., and was a graduate of Tufts University in Medford, where she was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority.
Ms. Merrill enjoyed a 30-year career in the museum field of glass studies, building at the Chrysler Museum what is considered to be one of the finest glass collections in the country. She authored the museum's major publication on its glass as well as many magazine and journal articles on its collections. She was in demand as a speaker at glass forums and meetings. For four years, from l973-1977, she moved back to Cape Cod as director-curator of the Sandwich Glass Museum in Sandwich, and then returned to the Chrysler Museum until her retirement in 1993.
Ms. Merrill is survived by cousins George A. Merrill of Bristol, R.I., Leland C. Merrill of Cohasset, Loreto Hepburn of Cheshire, Conn., John Besa of Santiago, Chile, Mary Henrique of Provincetown, Joan Muller of Richmond Va., and Connie Blickle of Clearwater, Fla. A memorial service will be held on June 8 at 4 p.m. at the Gately McHoul Funeral Home, 94 Harry Kemp Way at Howland St. in Provincetown, led by the Rev. Alison Hyder, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House of Provincetown.
|
Nancy E. Fales, 79
Katherine T. “Kay” Corley
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 7th, 2007