Merrie Elizabeth Kendrick

Merrie Elizabeth “Merrie Lib” Kendrick, notable Toledo piano teacher, longstanding member of the Ohio Music Teacher’s Association, and mother of four, died peacefully on August 18, 2020 in her home. She was 98. She was born in Canyon, Texas on May 22, 1922 to Joseph and Elizabeth Duflot. She credits her father, a professor of Sociology at the West Texas State University, for instilling in her a lifelong love of learning. At age 22, during the Second World War, she began serving in the United States Army as a dietician using the knowledge and skills she gained while earning her Bachelor of Arts degree at the same University where her father taught. It was in the army that she met Fredrick Kendrick, whom she married in an Army chapel in Clinton, Iowa in July of 1945. They settled in his hometown of Toledo, and it was there that she gave birth to their first of four children, Michael J. Kendrick, in 1946. They would go on to raise three more children. “For Heights and Depths No Words Can Reach, Music is the Soul’s Own Speech” A profound love for music shaped the whole of Merrie Lib’s life. Having studied piano since childhood, and in order to help support her large family, she began to teach lessons privately beginning in the early 1960’s. In 1968, she earned a second B.A. in Music from Mary Manse College in Toledo. She continued teaching for the next 46 years, retiring in 2014. She was a dedicated member and held various offices for a number of music organiza-tions, including the Ohio Music Teachers Association, The Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity, and the Euterpean Club. It was her lifelong love of learning that led her to return to school in 1992, when she pur-sued a Master's Degree in Music Performance from the University of Toledo. She was awarded that degree in 1994, at the age of 72. In her music room, pinned to a cork board, hangs a tiny, yellowed note, scrawled out years ago from one of her child students and torn hastily from a notebook: “I vergot to practice because I had to much to do. Will you please help me. Check yes or no.” And in her trademark mechanical pencil, Merrie had checked “yes”. One can imagine the lesson that followed; Merrie patiently yet firmly guiding her young student’s hands over the keys, reminding her to “practice a little more this week.” For that was just the kind of teacher, and person, that she was patient, kind, never boastful, never proud. An Unwavering Faith Merrie’s life was not without profound loss, however. Her oldest son, Michael, died of cancer in 1982, and her husband Fred just one year later. She said farewell to her brother Leo Duflot in 2001 and to her 95 year-old sister Josephine Dawes in 2005. And in 2016, she grieved the loss of her second oldest son, Dion F. Kendrick, to cancer at age 69. Yet it was her strong Catholic faith that sustained her through the grief, particularly her dedication to the Mass and to the Holy Rosary. God certainly gifted her generously with an unshakeable inner strength and joy of life. From that place, she never ceased teaching her family the simple lesson of the thirty-seventh Psalm: “Hope in the Lord, and Do Good.” These pillars upon which she built her life are evident in her final words, a letter in which she wrote to her children: “Although material things have to be talked about, the most valuable of all your heritage is your Faith, your intelligence, your humor, and your balance. It came from the love your father and I shared, and it grew in the love we gave unstintingly to you.” She was a dedicated parishioner of Most Blessed Sacrament Parish since the late 1940’s, and later in life she also was part of the St. Joseph Catholic Church family, both here in Toledo. A Life Well-Lived “I never really thought much about age,” said Merrie Lib. “As the decades passed by, it didn’t really mean anything to me. But when I turned 70…I thought about it.” Then, 28 years later, her daughter Cathy asked her, “So mom, how do you feel about your daughter turning 68 years old?” Her answer? “I don’t want to think about it,” she chuckled. All who knew her knew how sweet and loving she could be. She never spoke ill of anyone. Always ready for whatever life threw at her, she seized life and lived it well. And she provided all those that knew her with a perfect example of how to age gracefully, with quiet dignity. She died at 98, under her own steam, dressed for the day. She even had made up her bed. Then she came downstairs, sat on the couch, and passed on. Reading a plaque that hangs next to her grand piano, through which she brought so many masterpieces to life and inspired numerous young people, one cannot help but hear echoes of her elegant Texas drawl: “Life is like a piano: What you get out of it depends on how you play it.” A Lasting Legacy Left to cherish her memory are her children Catherine Ortiz and Kevin Kendrick; her daughters-in-law Kathleen, Joanna, and Cindy Kendrick; her eleven grandchildren Corey, Melinda, Sean, Colin, Nathan, Sarah, Colleen, Peter, Michael, Conor, and Caitlyn; and 18 Great-Grandchildren. The family wishes to express a profound gratitude to Marsha Lewis and Samantha Boyle, two caregivers who sacrificed much to provide Merrie with excellent care in her last years, enabling her to stay in the comfort of her own home. The family will receive friends during a time of visitation from 4-8 PM on Friday, August 28, 2020 at the Walker Funeral Home (5155 W. Sylvania Ave, Toledo, OH 43623) where the Rosary will be recited at 7PM. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church (2240 Castlewood Dr, Toledo, OH 43613) on Saturday, August 29, 2020 at 11AM, where the family will greet the public beginning at 10 AM. Due to recent health orders, those in attendance are required to wear a mask.