
{"id":2673,"date":"2008-05-23T12:30:24","date_gmt":"2008-05-23T20:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/2008\/05\/23\/laughing-along-with-ruby\/"},"modified":"2008-05-29T09:23:53","modified_gmt":"2008-05-29T17:23:53","slug":"laughing-along-with-ruby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2008\/05\/23\/laughing-along-with-ruby\/","title":{"rendered":"Laughing along with Ruby"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\nStaff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/p5197232.jpg\" title=\"Ruby Merritt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/p5197232.jpg\" alt=\"Ruby Merritt\" align=\"left\" height=\"154\" width=\"203\" \/><\/a>Ruby Merritt got 16 telephone calls on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>With 39 family members already in town to celebrate her 100th birthday, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a few, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Merritt is the matriarch of a large family, with four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. On Sunday, her family threw her 100th birthday party at Captain John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dockside Restaurant, and family members came from as far away as California, Pennsylvania and Germany to celebrate. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Thirty of them came to church with her at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153If they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t love me, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hypocrites,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They sure act like they love me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>They held the party at Captain John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because Merritt celebrated her 95th birthday there, and the owner of the restaurant promised if she lived to be 100 he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d bake her a cake, which he did.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Chatham County, Merritt has lived in Carrboro for more than 25 years. She lived in Chapel Hill before that, helping her husband, Eben Merritt, with Merritt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Store, which he ran for nearly 50 years.<\/p>\n<p>Merritt met her husband in Chapel Hill through his sister, who attended Chapel Hill High School with her. After graduating from Chapel Hill High in 1925, Merritt went to UNC for one year.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I went to UNC one year and got my \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mrs.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d degree,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Merritt said, laughing.<\/p>\n<p>The two were married in June of 1926 at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, where she has been a member for more than 80 years.<\/p>\n<p>Merritt recalls downtown Chapel Hill differently from how it stands today, though she says she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go downtown much anymore.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153At least we didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any bars,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sutton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s [Drug Store] was a gathering place.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Carrboro, she added, is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153so different\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from how she remembers it from when she was growing up.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I remember that it was a mill town,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come enough to even remember.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Her husband died of a heart attack in 1981. The two had been married for 55 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wish it had been longer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>When Merritt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s husband died, she moved to Carrboro.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I moved here in order to be close to my daughters, and to aggravate them,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said with a smile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the Lord has let me live so long.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p><strong>100 years young<br \/>\n<\/strong><br \/>\nMerritt attributes her longevity to laughter, family and clean living.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I enjoy laughing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It says in proverbs, laughter does good like medicine, and I firmly believe that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Merritt has a photo of her two daughters and herself at the beach in Cherry Grove, S.C. in t-shirts screen-printed with women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bodies clad in tiny bikinis.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You see, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a fun group,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One of Merritt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daughters, Clarice Page, said she had the photo made into birthday cards.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Inside, I wrote, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAge is a matter of attitude,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Page said.<\/p>\n<p>Merritt also stressed the importance of living a clean life.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But I attempted to be.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Merritt said she also believes her involvement in her church has kept her going.<\/p>\n<p>At Mt. Carmel, Merritt taught Sunday school for more than 50 years and played the piano for more than 70.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I had to stop a few months for four babies,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, adding that she would bring her babies with her to church and lay them on pillows on the bench.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When asked what the most difficult challenge in life is, Merritt doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss a beat.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rearing children properly,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the biggest problem that people have today.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Teachers cannot do it all,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she continued, adding that three of her four children were teachers.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just one big faculty meeting when we get together,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Page, who was a teacher at Carrboro Elementary School.<\/p>\n<p>Merritt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mother was also a teacher and her father built a one-room schoolhouse that still stands in Chatham County, so education has played a large part in her life.<\/p>\n<p>In particular, Merritt has always loved music, which led her to become the first woman to drive in Chatham County.<br \/>\nWhen she was 12, she took music lessons. Her father ran a sawmill, and driving her the five miles to her lessons would have meant shutting it down to leave. So, much to the chagrin of her mother, her father taught her to drive on the old country roads near their home.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153My mother had a fit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. But Merritt drove herself to her lessons, and because there were only two other cars in the county at that time, everyone knew who she was when they saw her coming. When people approached her on horses or in buggies, they would slow down to give 12-year-old Ruby a wide berth on the narrow dirt roads.<br \/>\nMerritt continued to drive until she was 93.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Family time<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Family is clearly very important to Merritt; she has photos of her many family members throughout her home.<br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m proud of all my family,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said.<\/p>\n<p>For nearly 50 years, Merritt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s family has traveled to Cherry Grove for a family week at the beach, and Merritt looks forward to another trip this summer.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have such a good time,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so much pleasure.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>Merritt said that while her family isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perfect, they always manage to get along.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean we agree on everything, but we just laugh about it and let it go.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>After 100 years, Merritt said she thinks her family is part of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kept her going.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To me, the most important thing on this earth is a functional family,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve lived so long, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a loving family.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>At her birthday party on Sunday, Merritt quoted Minnie Pearl: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just so proud to be here.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan Dickson Staff Writer Ruby Merritt got 16 telephone calls on Saturday. With 39 family members already in town to celebrate her 100th birthday, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a few, she said. Merritt is the matriarch of a large family, with four children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. On Sunday, her family threw her 100th birthday&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}