Lynda Joyce "Joy" Merritt's Obituary
Lynda Joyce Jones “Joy” Merritt, 80, died on Sunday, January 21, 2024, in Bartlett, TN. She was born April 20, 1943 at Sparks Hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas to Ed and Etta Lee Hanning Jones. Joy was the youngest of five children. She was raised in Van Buren, Arkansas, surrounded by loving family and extended family. Etta Lee made sure her children were raised in church at First Assembly of God Van Buren, Arkansas. It was within this family of faith that Joy came to know the Lord as her LORD and Savior at a young age. When Joy was three, Etta Lee became a single mother. Her church family and the community loved Etta Lee and knew her to be a godly woman and a good mother. She counted on her LORD to help her provide for her five children, aged 15 to 3 at the time. She ironed clothing to provide for her family.
Through these difficult years Etta Lee showed Joy (and her siblings) what it looked like to trust in her Lord. She never complained, instead, demonstrated the peace of God that resided in her. Joy learned from her mother how to pray, to trust God with both the big things and the small things. She learned from her mother that God would always provide. They might not have had much – but they were rich in love. Joy’s grandfather, George Hanning, was known in the community as the man who took food from his garden, to feed the homeless who lived on the banks of the Arkansas River. George and Winnie helped Etta Lee support their grandchildren. Etta Lee’s three eldest children, Carl, Dora Mae, and Helen also worked and supported their mother and youngest sisters. These early lessons were central to Joy’s life. She entrusted her life to her Lord, her family, and her church. These were the cornerstones of her entire life.
Joy attended Van Buren High School. She fell deeply in love with Kenneth Ray Chambers and married on December 29, 1962. They were blessed with five beautiful children, Rhonda, Angela, Donna, Brian, and Deborah. As a military wife, Joy enjoyed a life she never could have imagined as an Arkansas girl. She travelled the world as her family grew with more children at almost every new post. She lived in Fort Devons, Massachusetts; Naples, Italy; Augsburg, Germany; Berlin, Germany; and their final posting was at Fort Bragg, (Fayetteville) North Carolina.
Joy “held down the home fort” alone during two tours in Vietnam, in Seoul, Korea and many shorter-term assignments away from home. They retired in 1980 from Fort Bragg, He then moved the family to Springfield, Missouri; to begin his second career. All the while, Joy served her LORD, her family, and her church. One of her greatest sources of satisfaction through all those years was that she loved and served the Military Protestant Community in each of their European postings. She often hosted ministers and missionaries in her home. In Naples, she formed a lifelong friendship with faithful Assemblies of God missionaries, Al Perna, Sr.; and Al Perna, Jr. While living in Berlin, she hosted the Rev. Thomas Zimmerman when he came to minister at the Servicemen’s Retreat held in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Joy loved others sacrificially, lavishing all the resources at her disposal upon them. She made lifelong friendships everywhere she lived.
In 1990 Joy was abandoned then divorced by her husband and became a single mom. It was especially then that she reached in deeply, trusting her Lord to provide for her. Just as she had seen her mother do. Joy would often cry out to the Lord for His help, and she would sing hymns and choruses of praise at random times during the day. Her trust in God’s ability to provide for her every need was evident. She knew God would always be faithful to her.
In 1994, Joy married Gene Lopez (a widower) in Van Buren, Arkansas. Her family grew with Gene’s children, Connie, Kenneth, David, Lynda, Mike, and Dale along with their spouses and children, and grandchildren, too many to number. Their greatest enjoyment came from weekends with their grandchildren. Gene was a wonderful husband to Joy for almost 10 years. Gene died on September 25, 2003.
On November 26, 2010, Joy married Walt Merritt (a widower). Walt and his wife, Lois, had been friends since 1965 in Naples, Italy. They married in Peru, Illinois where Joy had been living. They made their home in Fayetteville, NC where Walt had retried from Pope Air Force Base. Walt’s children were Luke and Stephanie, who were married with children. Joy thrived in her marriage to Walt. Walt died on September 19, 2020 in Peru, Illinois. In October 2020, Joy relocated to her daughter’s home in Bartlett, Tennessee.
Joy was preceded in death by her parents, her son, Brian Ray Chambers, two grandchildren, David Berrios and Priscilla Berrios, her sister, Helen Fern Jones Lopez, her husbands, Gene Lopez and Walter Merritt, her brother, Carl Lee Jones, and sister, Dora Mae Jones Johnson.
Surviving are her daughters, Rhonda Leigh Adamson (Steve), Angela Courage-Mellott (Tom), Donna Lynn Ammons Sanders (Jerry) and Deborah Denise Swaar (Matt), and her sister, Judith Kay “Judy” Jones Ashmore (Ray) and her stepmother, Beverly Jones Noles.
Her grandchildren are Vincent Berrios (Rachel), Angelina Berrios Montemoino, Julianna Ammons Morris (Brandon), Michael Berrios (Sarah), Daniel Berrios, Joshua Ammons (Anya), Tiffany Adamson Raube (Travis), Elizabeth Adamson, Samuel Berrios (Sara), Nick Swaar, Hannah Swaar, Graham Fougerousse, and Clark Swaar, Gabbrielle Mellott Travis (Matthew), and Dannielle Mellott (Ali Rammel, fiancé).
Her great grandchildren are The Adamson’s: Madi, Jameson, and Roman, Marleigh, Stephen, and Evelyn; The Courage-Mellot’s: Kenyon, Anjay and Zoriya; Israel, Kylee, Gavin; Carter, Alexader, and Aria; Jasmyne, Christopher, Elliette; and Ella. The Ammons/Sanders: Amelia, Felicity, Luella Elaine and one on the way. The Swaar grandchildren have not yet married and had children.
Joy was a resourceful mother who did many creative ventures to subsidize the household income. She built a Montessori Day Care business in her home. She housed and cared for Kathy, a quadriplegic, during the year her mother was recovering from a hysterectomy. She served as janitor for her church, supervised senior adults as an overnight caregiver, offered childcare in her home, served the Assemblies of God Division of Foreign Missions providing childcare for missionaries during School of Missions and extended sessions. After her divorce she worked as a house parent at a facility for adults with intellectual disabilities until she remarried.
Joy truly lived up to her name. She was very quick witted and funny. She loved to read. She was a quiltmaker, seamstress, and an excellent cook and baker. Joy admitted to her weakness readily. Despite all her successes, service, and caregiving, she spent her adult life struggling with mental illness. It took her many years and a couple hospitalizations before she submitted to her physicians and stayed accountable to take medications on a regular basis. Over time, she realized that she could both fully trust the Lord and submit to her physicians by taking daily mental health medications. Joy dealt with many significant difficulties and traumas in her lifetime. Those things served to make her faith in God stronger. She did not have a particularly high opinion of herself, but she knew she was dearly loved by God regardless of her own failings and weaknesses. She worked hard throughout her life to love deeply, to forgive quickly, and trust God to take care of the rest.
Funeral Services will be held on Friday, January 26, 2024 at Second Presbyterian Church 4055 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111. The visitation will be in the Salmon Room at 10:00 a.m.; a funeral service will be held in the Chapel at 11:00 a.m. Burial Services will be private.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to Second Presbyterian Church World Missions or to Second Presbyterian Church Building Fund at 4055 Poplar Avenue, Memphis, TN 38111; or to the Christian Psychological Center at 3950 Central Avenue Memphis, Tennessee 38111; to Royal Family KIDS at 3000 W. Macarthur Blvd. Santa Ana, CA 92704 (Royal Family KIDS is a ministry to children in the Foster Care System).
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