Merle C. Llewellyn

Merle C. Llewellyn, 97, died on Sunday, June 16, 2019.

Daughter of Edna and Paul Cheney, she was born in Boston in 1921. She attended college at Fairfax Hall in Virginia and LaSalle in Auburndale, Mass.

In 1942, she married Rhys H. Llewellyn, Jr. (deceased 1978) and is survived by her son, Rhys (Chip) H. Llewellyn, III. She was predeceased by her granddaughter, Shandra Llewellyn of Palm Coast, Fla.

During the war and newly married, she lived with her family in Orleans, Mass., where she was a reporter for The Cape Codder newspaper. She moved to Manchester, N.H., in 1945 and in the '50s she started the first upscale ladies' consignment store in the area. She was, in her own words, a compulsive collector of jewelry, clothes, shoes, dolls, and shabby chic treasures. She will be remembered by her friends for her original greeting cards with poetry.

She was a founding member of the Sudden Pitch Swim and Tennis Club, a member of the Elliot Hospital Associates, the Hundred Club, the Currier Gallery of Art, the Manchester Historic Association, the YMCA, the Moore Center Legacy Society, and the American Contract Bridge League, where she attained the rank of Regional Master.

She will also be remembered for her unique and gala yard sales at her home on Union Street. Joined by many friends, their annual "Whale of a Sale" became famous. She later moved to Birch Hill Terrace in Hooksett.

Her last poem seems most fitting:

The Clock of Life

It seems of late

I am aghast

My clock of life

Just runs too fast

When Spring has sprung

I'm still in Fall

I can't catch up

I've tried it all

Weeks grow shorter

Months just fly

Now it's Christmas

June's gone by?

So once again

Friends far and near

With all my heart

I wish you cheer!

SERVICES: No services will be held. Donations may be made to Veterans Count, 555 Auburn Street, Manchester, NH 03103

Please visit www.goodwinfh.com to sign the online guest book.