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In memory of

Judith MacNeil Merrill

Sarasota, FL, USA

January 19, 1920 - March 27, 2021

Jan 19, 1920 - Mar 27, 2021

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Judith MacNeil Merrill, beloved grandmother and great-grandmother, musician, teacher, and friend, passed away on Saturday, March, 27th, 2021 at the age of 101.

Judy was born on January 19th, 1920 in Bangor, Maine. Music was an important part of Judith’s life from a very early age. Her mother Gwendoline Barnes, a concert violinist, violist, and pianist, offered her daughter extraordinary opportunities to make music. By the time she was 13 years old, Judy was playing violin with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the oldest community orchestra in America. Music remained a mainstay of Judy’s life, and she played her violin with orchestras and small ensembles for many decades in Maine, Massachusetts, and Florida. She also taught violin, at one time managing a schedule of fifty students, and worked as a professional accompanist.

In 1940, Judy married Rev. Dr. John MacNeil, the visionary Congregational Church minister responsible for the founding of both Plymouth Harbor and New College in Sarasota. They began their 39-year marriage in Auburn, Maine, where their oldest son Peter was born. After five happy years, they moved on to Eliot Union Church in Lowell, Massachusetts, where their second son, Paul, was born, and then on to Framingham, Massachusetts, where John joined Grace Congregational Church as its minister until 1957.

When John and Judy, with Peter and Paul, moved to Sarasota in 1957, Judy soon put her violin back to work, this time with the Florida West Coast Symphony (later named the Sarasota Orchestra). While the boys adjusted to new schools and John developed his vision for the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Sarasota, and later Plymouth Harbor and New College, Judy received an invitation from conductor Alexander Bloch and concertmaster David Cohen to serve as Principal Second violin during the 1957-58 orchestra season. Judy went on to enjoy a 46 year-long career with the Florida West Coast Symphony under conductors Alexander Bloch, Paul Wolfe, and Lief Bjaland.

After Judy’s husband John MacNeil passed away in 1979, she was introduced through mutual friends to her husband Robert Merrill, a civil engineer, talented photographer, bagpiper, and woodsman. Bob and Judy met in July of 1980 at a picnic at Lake Onawa in Northern Maine, and were married in Sarasota two months later. Together they traveled to Great Britain, New Zealand, and across the American West. For the next three decades, they split their time between Maine and New Hampshire in the summers, and Sarasota in the winters, enjoying time with their combined families. Bob and Judy moved from their house in Sarasota to Plymouth Harbor in 2006. Judy often said that her move to Plymouth Harbor felt as if she had come full circle within John MacNeil’s vision for the community. Her husband Bob Merrill passed away in 2012. Judy continued attending events at Plymouth Harbor with family and friends, services at First Congregational UCC, and Sarasota Orchestra concerts through her 100th birthday and beyond.

Judy is survived by her granddaughter Meghan MacNeil, grandson Aaron Bitters, and great-granddaughters Abby and Maddie. She was preceded in death by her husbands John MacNeil and Robert Merrill, and sons Peter and Paul MacNeil.

A private memorial service will be held in the MacNeil Chapel at Plymouth Harbor on Sunday, April 11th, 2021, at 2pm EST. Friends and family may RSVP to meghan.e.macneil@gmail.com to join via Zoom. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to the Sarasota Orchestra, 709 N Tamiami Tr, Sarasota, FL 34236, (https://www.sarasotaorchestra…) or to First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1031 S. Euclid Ave.Sarasota, FL 34237 (https://uccsarasota.com)

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

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In lieu of flowers, consider a gift to Florida West Coast Symphony - Sarasota Orchestra.

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