Paula Merrill, SCN, 68, a native of Stoneham, Massachusetts, was pronounced dead in Durant, Mississippi on Thursday, August 25, 2016. Sister had been a professed SCN for 34 years.
Sister served as a RN in Kentucky and Mississippi and later as a Family Nurse Practitioner in Mississippi. In Kentucky, Sister served part-time in the Flaget Memorial Hospital Emergency Room from 1979-80. Sister went to Mississippi in 1981 and served as Staff Nurse and Program Director for Cadet Health Services until 1985. From 1985 until her death, she provided health care at a number of health departments and clinics in Mississippi. She received her BSN degree from the Mississippi University for Women. In 1996, Sister received her MSN degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. At the time of her death, Sister was serving as a Nurse Practitioner at the Lexington Medical Clinic in Lexington, Mississippi.
Sister is survived by a sister, Rosemarie Merrill and a brother, John V. Merrill, Jr., both of Stoneham, Massachusetts, several nieces and nephews, and by her religious community.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, September 2, 2016 in St. Vincent Church, Nazareth, Kentucky at 10:30 a.m., followed by burial in Nazareth Cemetery.
Visitation will be after 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 1, 2016 in St. Vincent Church and a Prayer Service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday evening.
Funeral Arrangements are being handled by Ratterman Funeral Home, 3800 Bardstown Road, Louisville, Kentucky. Memorials may be made to Sister Paula Merrill Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 9, Nazareth, KY 40048 or https://scnfamily.org.
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Love and prayers and sympathy to the sisters’ Community, Rosemarie and John..from Seattle., washingyon….I knew her years back ” pre nun” days…they both went from his hands to HIS hands.
I am Fr. John Gouger, Redemptorist, now at Greenwood, Ms. and I had the pleasure and honor to get to know Sr.Paula and Margaret at a number of Sunday masses at Lexington these past 5 months and testify to their hospitality and dedication. We pray for them and to them to give us courage to continue the mission to the people of Mississippi that they so lovingly carried out. My sympathies and admiration to the Sisters of Charity and of ST. Francis and to their loved ones.
Fr. John Gouger
Greenwood, Ms.
Sister Paula lived the Gospel in a simple, direct manner. Her response to what she did was, “We see patients. We do what needs to be done.” Everyday she laid down her life for her brothers and sisters. Last week she made the ultimate sacrifice. Knowing Paula, I believe she had no regrets.
Father James Martin has called Margaret and Paula “martyrs of charity” and so they are. We Sisters of Charity of Nazareth are blessed to have a martyr and saint for a sister.
As Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, we espouse non-violence. We seek to forgive the perpetrator as I know Paula and Margaret have already done. We do not seek an eye for an eye; we do not want him executed. We pray that he will one day join Margaret and Paula in heaven.
We are brokenhearted.
Only God can judge this man who took two innocent lives. I do not doubt that his victims have forgiven him as St.John Paul forgave the man who tried to assassinate him. God is merciful, but he is also a just God. If one can get to heaven after killing two women doing God’s work, for what reason would one be condemned to spend eternity in hell or are we negating that there is a hell.