Nancy C. Merritt, age 95, a resident of Windsor Park in Carol Stream, passed away on Monday, February 28, 2022. She was born January 7, 1927 in Portsmouth, Virginia to Claude & Gladys Owens.

Nancy was blessed to have loving and faithful parents who nurtured in her a deep felt commitment to her  Lord and Saviour. The Lord was gracious  and she was gifted with extraordinary musical talents that she faithfully cultivated and shared in a life of ministry. As a child she would memorize hymns from the Methodist hymnal with an appreciation of the hymn writers' faith and gospel truths.

She graduated from high school in Washington D.C. and attended Bob Jones University in Greenville S.C.  receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano and organ. While at Bob Jones she met and married her first husband John T. Carlson in 1950 and together they raised two sons and served Evangelical Covenant Churches in New York, New York, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and Chicago, Illinois before her husband's death in 1975. Nancy provided a supporting ministry to John  as organist and choir director.

Subsequently, Nancy served as organist and choir director at the Beverly Covenant Church in Chicago and at the same time began a graduate work in counseling with additional studies and credentials in Clinical Pastoral Education. While continuing to utilize her musical gifts,  she was on the Chaplaincy staff at Swedish Covenant Hospital and Christ Hospital in Chicago and part time faculty at Moraine Valley Community College.

She would often remember that some of her most blessed times of ministry were in Chaplaincy and bringing the Good News of the Gospel to those who were facing real immediate needs. During these years she was also privileged to engage in numerous speaking and ministry opportunities with Christian Womens' Clubs throughout the Midwest.

In 1980 she married Harold Merritt, a retired New England school teacher, and relocated to Rhode Island where she continued doing chaplaincy in Connecticut and served as organist choir director at churches in Warwick, Rhode Island and Woodstock, CT. After the death of her second husband Harold, she continued as organist and choir director at the Greenwood Presbyterian Church in Warwick, Rhode island until her retirement in 2009. In 2011 she moved to Windsor Park Covenant Living in Carol Stream, Il where she took great pleasure and joy in playing the piano and hymns at every opportunity.

Throughout all her years, her relationship with the Lord Jesus, as a sinner saved by grace, and sharing the Gospel with her family and all those she encountered was her foremost priority. The Lord was so very gracious to have blessed her with His rich love beyond measure with the Hope of Future Glory knowing Him.

She is survived by her sons John (Barbara) & William (Mary Jane) Carlson; her grandchildren Hannah (Mike) Zigtema, Teddy (Becca) Carlson, Marissa Carlson, Will (fiancée Lucy Dekkenga) Carlson & Gabe Carlson; and her great-grandson Elliott Zigtema.

She was preceded in death by her husbands Rev. John T. Carlson (died 1975) & Harold Merritt (died 1995).

A visitation will be held on Sunday, March 6, 2022 at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., Wheaton, IL 60187, from 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Burial will be private at Oak Hill Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois. A memorial service to celebrate Nancy's life will be held at Windsor Park, 124 Windsor Park Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188, on Friday, April 1, 2022, at 10:30 a.m. To watch a recording of the service please use this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKzd8S9NpuA .

Memorial gifts may be directed to Benevolent Care Fund at Windsor Park .

Family and friends may sign a guest book at hultgrenfh.com. For more information, please call Hultgren Funeral Home at 630-668-0027.