Lois Jeanne Smith Merritt

LOIS JEANNE SMITH MERRITT, 92, of Huntington, WV, went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on August 7, 2025. She was born September 27, 1932, in Huntington, WV, the daughter of the late Henry Richard Smith and Bernice Marie Fannin Smith of Huntington. Her life revolved around her church and her students. She was preceded in death by her husband Ernest Merritt, Jr., sister Helen Robbins, sisters-in-law Patricia Smith and Billie Smith, son-in-law Robert Jones and grandson Matthew Jones. Surviving are her daughters, Lynn Sommerville (David) and Jean Anne Jones; grandchildren, Lauren Sommerville Falkner (Paul), Rachel Sommerville McClure (Josh), Courtenay Jones Johnson (Seth), grandsons, Robert Jones, Nicholas Jones and Alex Jones (Staranna); brother, Robert Smith (JoAnna), sister-in-law, Sharon Blankenship (Larry), eight great-grandchildren, Blair and Ivy Falkner, Emma and Ben Johnson, and Declan, Freya, Killian and Lachlynn Jones; a beloved cousin, David Hicks, and several nieces and nephews.

Lois was a graduate of Huntington High School, Marshall University and Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary).

She was a teacher. Teaching was her profession and her hobby. She taught Latin and English at Lincoln JHS, Cammack JHS, Huntington High School, and after having received her seminary degree, she taught Latin for several years at Covenant School after which she taught Latin to many home-schooled students. At the time of her passing, she was teaching Latin to her great-granddaughter Emma Johnson. She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, teacher's honorary.

She was a charter member of The Musical Arts Guild, possibly the only surviving one, and played many roles there as well as in many Community Players' productions. Her husband Ernest and daughters Lynn and Jean Anne were in many of the productions in which she performed. She also served as a lay member on the West Virginia Board of Examiners of Psychologists.

She loved to travel and visited Canada, Mexico (very briefly), Alaska, Germany (got lost in Munich) for the Oberammergau Passion Play and the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Rome and England, Israel, Greece, Istanbul (lost again there), as well as 48 of the 50 United States.

She loved her Lord, her family and friends, her students, music and books. Her favorite place on earth was the New Baptist Church where she was a charter member, having been a 65-year member of the former 20th Street Baptist Church (where she was baptized in 1943). She was for many years the teacher of the Bykota Sunday School Class, choir member, AWANA helper, church clerk, librarian, director of the church's Home Ministry Program, etc. After the church merged to become New Baptist in 2008, she became the church clerk, a deaconess, and continued to teach the Bykota Class into her 90s. She was active in the Guyandotte Baptist Association and was secretary of the West Virginia Baptist Convention for 19 years.

Visitation will be at Beard Mortuary on Sunday, August 10 from 4-7 p.m. and on Monday, August 11 at New Baptist Church from 12-2 p.m. The service will be at 2:00 p.m. with Pastor Trent Eastman officiating. Pallbearers are Phil Holmes, Virgil Kelly, Alan Meek, Carl Pemberton, Rusty Prichard and Darrell Walden. Interment will be in Woodmere Memorial Park on Tuesday, August 12 at 10:00 a.m.

Contributions may be made in her memory to New Baptist Church, 610 28th St. Htgn 25702.