Merrick Awarded Wall of Honor Spot

Town Council members will induct Mary O. Merrick into the Town of Bluffton’s Wall of Honor April 11 at 4 p.m., prior to the Town Council meeting. The public is welcome and invited to attend.

About Mary Olive Pinckney Merrick:

Mary O. Merrick, a lifelong Blufftonian, was a teacher and fierce defender of our region’s natural resources. Mary grew up on her family farm in greater Bluffton, known as Calhoun Plantation.

Her childhood living on a farm, adjacent to the Colleton River, is where and why she developed a keen awareness of nature, its inherent beauty and the effects human actions have on the water and land surrounding her. She fought several industrial efforts to build manufacturing plants on Victoria Bluff and protected her childhood property from development.

Mary graduated top of her class from Bluffton High School in 1937. She also graduated from Florida State University, at the age of 19, and taught school in Florida as well as becoming a chemist for Union Camp in Savannah. She married Edwin L. Merrick, which brought her back to her family farm.

She raised her five children there and returned to teaching. Mary taught for thirty years and was known as a gifted educator. She taught math and science at Bluffton High School and McCracken High School. She fiercely championed the causes of clean water, clean air, controlled development, and equity based on ability as she recruited and mentored numerous students to these causes.

Mary led by example. As development surrounded her beloved Pinckney Colony, she transferred development rights to the Beaufort County Open Land Trust for to preserve the land, and encouraged others to follow her lead. Mary Olive Pickney Merrick was known as “true Southern lady,” who loved traveling, dancing, playing bridge, gardening, her family, her church and her town, Bluffton.

Merrick died at her home February 24, 2014.