Jan Merritt

Janet "Jan" (Foley) Merritt, 86, of Atchison, Kansas, died Friday, April 8, 2022, at Atchison Senior Village.

Jan has been cremated under the care and direction of the Arensberg-Pruett Funeral Home. Interment will be in the Mt. Vernon Cemetery at a later date.

Jan was born July 3, 1935, in Goose Creek, Texas, the daughter of John O. Foley and Juanita "Nita" B. (Whittington) Foley. She was raised in Atchison from third grade on, attending Martin East and Central Grade Schools, graduating from Atchison High School.

She had not traveled outside of the Midwest until she moved to Arizona, where she fell in love with the area and with cacti and made numerous great friends. She moved back to Atchison, Kansas in 2013, but enjoyed traveling back to Arizona to visit her children there.

Jan came from a sports-loving family and participated in golf since she was ten years old. She played in countless golf tournaments and State Championships over the years in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Arizona, most of which as a mother of five children who also learned to play golf. Jan and her brother, Jerry, won the Bellevue Club Championship while still in high school. She won City Golf Championships in St. Joseph, MO, Falls City, NE and Page, AZ. In her later years she continued playing for the love of the game and she enjoyed life having fun with her children and friends.

She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Atchison and was a deacon at the Presbyterian Church in Mesa, AZ. Her memberships included the Atchison Hospital Auxiliary and Bellevue Country Club.

Jan is survived by her children and the loves of her life, Terry Merritt; Scott Merritt; six grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

She is preceded in death by her sons, Gary Merritt (died July 28, 1992); Gregg Merritt (died Jan. 21, 2022); a daughter, Gayle Merritt Wilson (died Aug. 10, 2019) and her brother, Jerry Foley (died Jan. 4, 1977).