PRISCILLA HARDWICK MERRITT

BELFAST – Priscilla Hardwick Merritt died Sept. 1, 2006, at the Island Nursing Home, Deer Isle. She was born in 1913, in Malden, Mass., the seventh of eight children of Harry Madison and Mabel (Bradish) Hardwick. Priscilla attended high school in Reading, Mass., where she and her future husband, Francis S. Merritt, were classmates. She graduated from Penn Hall Girl’s School, Chambersburg, Pa. in 1931 and then attended Massachusetts School of Art to study fashion drawing. During her long and productive lifetime, Priscilla filled many shoes, first and foremost as a pillar of support for her immediate family. Early in her career she was a fashion illustrator for Filenes in Boston. Later she was a dietitian for Waldo County Hospital in Belfast and then a businesswoman who established the Centennial House Gallery, which displayed and sold fine craft items, in Deer Isle. She was best known, however, for her active role in the development of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, of which her husband, Fran, was the founding director. From the time that Haystack was founded in Liberty in 1951, through its move to Deer Isle in 1961, to the retirement of Fran as director in 1978, she filled various positions, including weaving instructor, business manager and chief cook, at the school. She befriended and encouraged scores of students and instructors from all over the world, many of whom were or became renowned in their field. Those friendships, along with many others, endured throughout her lifetime, being sustained by her remarkable ability to make everyone feel like they were special. In 2000, she and Fran were co-recipients of a Visionaries award presented by the American Craft Museum for having spearheaded a revolution in craft education where both students and faculty are quickly energized with new visions and skills. During the last nine years she lived at Penobscot Shores in Belfast, where she continued to receive friends and family in her usual gracious manner. She was six years predeceased by Fran. She is survived by her two sons, Dr. Alfred M. Merritt and his wife, Nancy, of Gainesville, Fla., and Steven H. Merritt of St. Isadore, Ontario and his wife, Anne Lie-Nielsen, of Argyle Shore, Prince Edward Island, as well as six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. A celebration of her life will take place at Haystack next summer. Memorial contributions may be sent to the scholarship program at Haystack, Box 518, Deer Isle, ME 04627.