Lucy Taxis Shoe Meritt

(04/14/2003) Lucy Taxis Shoe Meritt of Austin died Sunday, April 13, 2003. She was born August 7, 1906, in Camden, New Jersey, the daughter of William Napoleon Shoe and Mary Esther Dunning Shoe. Lucy Shoe Meritt was a distinguished, internationally known classicist and archaeologist. On November 2, 1964, she married the late Benjamin Dean Meritt, a most distinguished American classicist and a foremost authority on Greek epigraphy. William Bonaparte Shoe, one of the first safety engineers in the United States, was summoned by Texas Governor Pat Neff to help set rates under the Workman's Compensation Act. Lucy Shoe was a student at Bryn Mawr College when her parents moved from Philadelphia to Austin. Dr. Lucy Shoe Meritt received her Bachelor of Arts degree, 1927, her Master of Arts in Classical Archaeology and Greek, 1928, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Classical Archaeology and Greek, 1935, all from Bryn Mawr College. Honors include the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement, 1976; an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Brown University, 1974; and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hamilton College, 1994. Lucy Shoe Meritt became a fellow of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens in 1929, where, for five years, she performed field work and ground-breaking research on Greek archaeology, with emphasis on the architectural mouldings and other details of classical temples and other buildings. She was twice Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, where she continued her work on Greek, Etruscan, and Roman architecture. Lucy Meritt taught archaeology and Greek at Mount Holyoke College, and was chief counsellor of students. She was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey. She founded the publications office for the American School of Classical Studies and became its editor from 1950 to 1972. Dr. Meritt was a professor of classical archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin 1973-74, 1975-76, and 1990. Lucy Meritt's publications include many articles, reviews and five books, Profiles of Greek Mouldings, Profiles of Western Greek Mouldings, Profiles of Etruscan and Republican Roman Mouldings, History of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, and recently, a revised re-issue of Etruscan and Roman Republican Mouldings, with Ingrid Edlund-Berry. Lucy Shoe Meritt had been a member of many organizations and clubs, including the Classical Society of the Armerican Academy in Rome, the German Archaeological Institute, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Heritage Society of Austin, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Austin Woman's Club, and the Pathfinders Club. She was a member of the Susanna Wesley Class and a member of the First United Methodist Church. Lucy had legions of friends in Austin and around the world. She is survived by her step-sons, James K. Meritt, Turnersville, NJ, and Arthur D. Meritt, and wife, Pat, Newark, DE; and grandchildren, Deany Wood, husband Robert, Potsdam, NY, Kirk Meritt, Keuka Park, NY, Benjamin Meritt, Turnersville, NJ, and eight great grandchildren. Funeral services will be 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 16, 2003, in the Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Chapel, with Reverend Bruno Schmidt and Reverend Karl A. Gronberg officiating. Burial will follow at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery. Family and friends express their gratitude to Hospice Austin and staff at the Summit at WestLake Hills. Memorial contributions may be made to the Lucy Shoe Meritt Fund at Bryn Mawr College, 101 N. Merion Ave., Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2899, or the Endowment Fund at First United Methodist Church, Austin, Texas. Arrangements by Weed-Corley- Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar, 452-8811.