With supplemental materials
by Maralyn Fink
Teresa Merrill
Teresa Bowler was born in 1888. She came from a family of teachers, two sisters and five cousins all in education. Her mother substituted, but did not have a certificate. After Teresa graduated from the Lapeer High School, she attended Ypsilanti Normal School and upon completion she came to St. Johns. This was approximately 1908. She taught third and fourth grade. She also taught catechism for her church. After about three years, she left the St. Johns area and went to Hastings, Michigan as Critic Teacher of Barry County Normal School. When Teresa Bowler first started teaching, she received $24.50 a month.
When Teresa first came to St. Johns she came as a single gal. She was considered a “belle” of the younger set. It did not take Robert Merrill long to start romancing her. He won her heart and they were married October 15, 1913.
In 1930 Teresa Merrill moved back to St. Johns to teach fifth and sixth grades. She also became principal of the East Ward school and remained there until 1957. Twenty-seven years of teaching is a long time. She loved every minute of it and worked diligently with the youngsters. She was always ready to help that boy or girl that may have been in trouble or needed assistance in one way or another.
Besides being an influential educator in the community Teresa was also the original chairman of the St. Johns Hospital Auxiliary which initiated the building of the Clinton Memorial Hospital. She worked very hard on this project, and after the hospital was built. the Auxiliary worked to get curtains and bedding for it. She remained on the Hospital Board seventeen years and often attended meetings after that. She is very proud of the hospital and often remarked., “All the hard work paid off.”
Teresa was an original member and secretary-treasurer of the Library Board which saw to it that a library was established in St. Johns. She was president of the St, Johns Women’s Club and the St. Johns [sic] Altar Society.
Because Teresa was such a dedicated person to her pupils and Community, the St. Johns Board of Education at their March 31, 1976 meeting voted to honor this gracious lady by renaming the East Ward school-Teresa Merrill Elementary School.
On June 3, 1976, the PTA had an Open House to honor Teresa. At this time a plaque honoring the new name was presented to the school by Superintendent Earl Lancaster. This plaque is to hanging in the school hall. The School Board also presented Teresa with a memorial plaque. The Guest Book used at the Open House was donated by a dear friend of Teresa, Marguarite Travis Norfleete. Marguarite Norfleete attended East Ward school in 1894.
Theresa’s husband passed away August 3, 1975. Theresa remains at their home at 509 E. Walker in St. Johns.
Supplementary materials
East Ward School becomes Theresa Merrill Elementary
“I never wanted to do anything but teach,” says Theresa Merrill, a St.Johns 6th grade teacher and principal of East Ward School for 27 years.
Twenty-seven years is a long time to work diligently with children, but Theresa says she did it because she loved it all, and many of her students will attest to that fact.
In recognition of Theresa Merrill’s dedication to education and the tremendous influence she had upon instilling good in many young lives, the St.Johns Board of Education at their March 3t meeting voted to re-name the East Ward School in honor of this woman, and it will hence forth be known as the Theresa Merrill Elementary School.
Mrs. Merrill, who is modest about her educational accomplishments, graduated from Lapeer High School and went on to Ypsilanti Normal School and received her bachelor of arts degree from the Central Normal School, now known as Central Michigan University.
After graduating she was a critic teacher at the Barry County Normal School and later became principal of the East Ward School as well as the school’s 6th grade teacher.
She had come from a family of teachers, 5 of her cousins being teachers as well as her 2 sisters. Her mother also substituted but did not have a certified degree.
When she first started teaching, she earned about $24,50 a month, “And I thought that was tops,” said Theresa. She remembers some grandmothers sitting in her classes, observing what their grandchildren were learning.
Possibly what she treasures most of her teaching career were her efforts to help young boys who had social problems or got in trouble for one reason or another. “This was the kind of boy I liked best,’ she says now.
Many of her former students still come to visit, and it is always a joy for her to hear what they are doing now in life.
Through her many years of teaching she taught with “more kindness than anything else,” explaining “That was the best way.”
Besides being an influential educator in the community, Theresa was also the original chairman of the Hospital Auxiliary which initiated the building of Clinton Memorial Hospital. She remained on the Hospital Board 17 years and remarks now when she passes by the hospital, “It paid off very well.”
Theresa was also an original member and secretary-treasurer of the library board which saw to it that a library was established in St. Johns Other social obligations she took upon herself included the presidency of the St. Johns Women’s Club and the St. Joseph’s Altar Society.
She has helped her community and her community has acknowledged her efforts by naming an educational institution after her – Theresa Merrill Elementary School.
Clinton County New obituary
At age of 95
Teresa Merrill, prominent educator passes away
Teresa A. Merrill, 95, prominent St. Johns school teacher, died Tuesday, March 29 at Clinton Memorial Hospital.
Mrs. Merrill had been a teacher in St. Johns since 1906 and had the East Ward School named in her honor. The school is now used for the continuing education program.
Born in Port Huron, Michigan on March 28, 1888, she had resided in the St. Johns area most of her life. She graduated from Ypsilanti Normal College In 1906 and then began her teaching career In St. Johns. She married Robert Merrill in Lapeer on Oct. 15, 1913. Mrs. Merrill was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church.
Funeral services for Teresa A. Merrill were held Wednesday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Burial was held In the Mt. Rest Cemetery with the Rev. Father William Hankerd officiating.
Left to survive are her niece and nephews, Mr. and Mrs. Firmin Smith of Taylor and Mrs. Florene Henderson of Ventura, California. She is also preceded in death by four sisters.
Kindness was Teresa’s style
by Peter W. Bronson
One of Clinton County’s leading educators, Teresa Merrill, died March 29, the day after her 95th birthday.
Mrs. Merrill, the former Miss Teresa Bowler of Elba, Mich., began teaching at Central Elementary School in St. Johns in 1907 and married local businessman Robert Merrill here in 1913.
“She was a very gracious and loving person,” said her next door neighbor for 53 years, Lorraine Hoffman [sic] of 507 E. Walker. “She was a very dedicated person.”
Mrs. Merrill’s dedication to her community surfaces again and again in local history. In addition to her well remembered efforts as an educator, she organized and led a drive which resulted in construction of Clinton Memorial Hospital and was one of the founders of St. Johns’ first local library.
A 1905 graduate of Lapeer High School, Mrs. Merrill came from a family of teachers. Her mother, two sisters and five cousins taught school. Her own teaching career began with graduation from Ypsilanti Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) in 1906. She later earned her bachelor of arts from Mt. Pleasant Normal College (now Central Michigan University).
Following several years teaching first and second grade students at Central Elementary, she became the head of Clinton County Normal in 1912.
Mrs. Merrill returned to St. Johns Public Schools in 1928, when she began teaching fifth and sixth grade students at East Ward Elementary. That school, located just a few blocks from the Merrill home, was later renamed Teresa Merrill School in 1976.
In an interview with the Clinton County News held shortly after the school was dedicated to her, Mrs. Merrill reflected on her 27 years of teaching in St. Johns. “I never wanted to do anything but teach, ” she said.
Hired at a salary of $24.50 a month – “And I thought that was tops,” she said – her favorite students were troubled or trouble-making boys. “This was the kind of boy I really liked best.”
Her efforts, she said, were to teach, “More with kindness than anything else. That was the best way.”
“When I became superintendent in 1952, she was principal at East Ward and also taught fifth and sixth grades,” former St. Johns superintendent Earl Lancaster said. “She was a tremendous lady. She had a very soft voice and related with the kids very well.”
Mrs. Merrill was one of the first solicitors for funds to build Clinton Memorial Hospital, which was begun in 1927, and became the original chairman of the hospital auxiliary, serving with that organization for 17 years. “It paid off very well,” she said in 1976. She remained an honorary member of the auxiliary until her death.
She also helped with soliciting funds for the Clinton Area Care Center, now known as Hazel I. Findlay Country Manor.
“I knew her for a number of years and she was very community-minded and conscientious about doing anything she could to help,” Clinton County Historical Society member Charles Coletta said. “She was already quite old when the drive for the care center was begun, but I was the chairperson and she called and wanted to help anyway.”
Mrs. Merrill and her husband, who died in 1975, had no children. “She always said her children were her students and she loved teaching,” said Miss Hoffman [sic]. “She said once she’d do it all over again. She really loved the children.”
Mrs. Merrill also helped to organize a local library board and establish St. Johns Public Library. She was a member of the board and served as secretary from its founding in 1940 to her resignation in 1965.
She attended St. Joseph Catholic Church, and belonged to the St. Joseph’s Altar Society, and was also a former president of the St. Johns Woman’s Club.
She is survived by nieces and nephews, Mr. and Mrs. Firmin Smith of Taylor, and Mrs. Florence Henderson of Ventura, Cal.
“She was a wonderful person,” her neighbor said. “Just a grand, grand person.”
Teresa Merrill remembered
by Jean Martin
Teresa Merrill served as the Secretary of the Library Board for more than 25 years.
She was married to attorney Robert Merrill and taught in Saint Johns for many years. In 1958 she retired from teaching after having been the principal of East Ward School for 26 years. In 1976 the school was named Teresa Merrill School in her honor.
As time went on the next generation began to run for office and take over their fathers’ businesses. After having taught for so many years, Mrs. Merrill began to believe that she actually had taught every younger person in the community. And whenever she began to speak about them, she inevitably recalled that each had been her special favorite.
Mrs. Merrill was a faithful Catholic. She attended Mass every Sunday without fail; and every Sunday without fail she would greet the pastor on her way out, pat him on the cheek and say, “That was just wonderful, Darlin’.”
Then one Sunday, when even the pastor himself had not been too pleased with his homily, Mrs. Merrill greeted him at the door, patted him on the cheek and said, “Just couldn’t get it together this morning, could you, Darlin’?”
Mrs. Merrill lived alone for some years after the death of her husband. Finally the day came when she could no longer stay in her own home. At the Rivard Nursing Home some of the employees, who had been raised in a different era, were dismayed by her behavior. At each meal Mrs. Merrill insisted upon presiding at the head of the table with her hair freshly done, dressed for dinner.
Next week: Demolition of Teresa Merrill School