After decades of advocacy for the importance of voting and being involved in government, Sedalia has lost one of its biggest supporters.
Mary Merritt died Friday, Jan. 15 at her Sedalia home after contracting COVID-19 in November. She was 89.
Merritt was a well-known name in the City of Sedalia, from her service on numerous city boards and the Sedalia City Council to being heavily involved in the League of Women Voters where she helped educate citizens on issues and encouraged voting.
Sedalia Community Development Director John Simmons worked with Merritt during her time as chairman of the Citizens for a Clean Sedalia Committee, which started around 2012. He noted that Merritt had a great sense of humor and all interactions with Merritt were respectful, well-thought out, and purposeful.
“What really stuck with me about Mary was that she was a fact-finding straight shooter. You always knew where you stood and I think that’s a good example for people to set for others,” Simmons said. “Mary just really was outspoken and straightforward with her approach to city problems and solutions. And really gave it so much thought and looked at the angles, you always knew where she was coming from.”
Simmons said Merritt helped make city government overall more efficient and was “instrumental” in creating ordinances that his department uses to this day in determining compliance with code issues.
“That was a huge focus of council back then, reducing height of weed violations from 12 to 8 inches, better definitions in the code book of what a violation is and what constitutes a violation,” Simmons said. “She gave a clearer picture and expectation to the public for property maintenance.”
After leading the Citizens for a Clean Sedalia Committee for more than two years, Merritt was recognized in 2015 for her work by the Missouri League of Women Voters. She received the Harriet Woods Community Service Award in recognition of her successful stint as chairperson of the committee, which ended in fall 2014.
Through Merritt’s leadership, the committee submitted more than 10 recommendations to the Sedalia City Council regarding improvements to the city’s appearance, and all but one were approved. Recommendations included improvements to the building inspection department, changes to allowed grass height, and hiring an additional employee for building inspections.
Merritt was appointed to the Public Works Board just as her time on the Clean Sedalia Committee was coming to an end. While she acknowledged the Clean Sedalia Committee had many successful accomplishments, Merritt, like many public servants, thought there was still more work to be done.
“I wish we could have done more,” she told the Democrat in 2015. “When you sit down and look at it, we did accomplish a great deal, but there’s some much more to be done. … But it was an interesting experience and I’m glad that I did it. I would do it again or try to work on something else that might be helpful to make people realize Sedalia is a good place to live.”
She did work on something else to help Sedalia when she briefly served as a Ward 4 Sedalia City Councilwoman. Former Mayor Stephen Galliher appointed her in September 2017 to fill a vacancy. She served until April 2018, when she was defeated by Megan Page in the race to keep her Ward 4 seat.
At the time, Merritt told the Democrat she hoped her business experience, common sense and openness to listening to all sides of an issue would serve her well during her time on council.
“Right now I need to learn what’s in the works, what’s in the pipeline, what’s going on, where it is, what it takes to do it and so I’m not prepared to say I’m for or against anything right now,” she said. “But later I’ll probably have an opinion, and being opinionated I’ll probably voice it. I’ve been accused of that,” she added with a laugh.
According to her obituary, Merritt started as a bookkeeper for Parkhurst Manufacturing and retired as Executive Vice President 39 years later in 1996.
After a few years of retirement, Merritt worked at Ragar Banners, but she and owner Myrna Ragar have known each other since they were 20 years old and working at Parkhurst. Ragar said Merritt was her supervisor and bought all the steel for Parkhurst.
“There’s a funny story, someone wanted to sell steel and talk to Mr. Parkhurst. The receptionist said Mary takes care of steel buying but he said he’d wait for Mr. Parkhurst. When he finally met with Mr. Parkhurst, he told the man he’d have to talk to Mary because she handles all the steel,” Ragar recalled laughing. “Back then not many women took care of buying steel for a company.”
When Parkhurst died, Merritt helped his grandson learn the business as he took over. She remained on the board for many years, Ragar said.
At Ragar Banners, Ragar took care of the artwork while Merritt ran the business.
She was passionate about being a businesswoman and was a member of Sedalia Business Women, who named her Woman of the Year in 2016-17, and of American Business Women Association, where she was named one of the Top 10 Business Women.
Kathleen Boswell was a new member of the League of Women Voters of Pettis County when she met Merritt in the mid-1980s. Since then, the two women have had “all kinds of adventures together” traveling across the country for League events. Most recently, they served as co-presidents of the local chapter and helped celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in 2020.
Boswell said Merritt was a great mentor through the years and that they bonded over books and teapots.
“I tend to lean a little Republican and she leaned a little Democrat but we were really able to talk about anything and everything and never let it get personal and how you need to be able to exist in this day and age,” Boswell said.
Merritt was highly involved with the League at the state level, serving as treasurer and then president. She also was a major part of the local League, helping organize candidate forums and always serving as a stern-but-fair moderator who wasn’t afraid to ask her own pointed questions.
“She was very devoted to the League, she thought it was very, very important to her that people go out and vote if they wanted something to happen, they needed to vote for it,” Ragar said. “Regardless of which way they voted, they needed to vote.”
A celebration of Mary’s life will be held in Sedalia at a later date. Arrangements are under the direction of McLaughlin Funeral Chapel in Sedalia.
