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Reflection on Julia Rae Bryant Merritt

Julia Rae Bryant Merritt was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but later journeyed at an early age with her mother Daisy Brown to
Florida. During those formative years, she attended Boarding School in St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, Florida.

Mrs. Merritt further studied at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida, Bethune Cookman University in Daytona Beach,
Florida, and Appalachia College in North Carolina, to receive her degree in Elementary Education and Library Science. Mrs. Merritt

taught in the Seminole County Public School System for 37 years. These teaching experiences included positions at Midway
Elementary, Goldsboro Elementary, and Lawton Elementary Schools and Librarian for (what is now) Jackson Heights Middle. She

spent her life serving humanity through dedication and commitment to not only the students in her classroom but also the students in her

community and church. Mrs. Merritt had a passion, like her mother Daisy Brown, for caring for others. It was evident through the many
programs she produced such as the Student Performing Arts Assembly Shows, and the Library Club in schools, the Community Social

Teas and Salutes to High School Graduates in the community, a long-time member of Choir Number One and served as Director of

many Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving Plays at our church St. Paul Baptist Church. The most memorable of these programs is the
Harvest Meditation Service. She felt the need to have a service where we could put more emphasis on God's Blessings and His Goodness.

Not just to sing a song and pray a prayer but to gather our thoughts as a farmer gathers his crops to determine his success in the planting

and watering of his seeds for growth. We, too, through Meditation, must gather our thoughts during the Thanksgiving Season and
evaluate our harvest of giving, planting and the sowing of our time and gifts to our Heavenly Father. Most of all, she was interested in

giving God all the Honor and Praise He Deserves.

~ Submitted by Mrs. Vivian Hurston Bowden - One of My Mom's Community Daughters