Margery Merchant passed away on March 28, 2011, in Shoreline, Washington, at age 92. She was born Margery Ellen Mote in Chanute, Kansas on June 28, 1918. She attended Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. In 1938 she married Stansberry Joseph Merchant, also from Chanute. They enjoyed a long life together, living in Wichita and Leawood, Kansas, and then moving to Bainbridge Island, Washington after Stan retired in 1973. After Stan died in 1990 she lived with her dog in the Bainbridge house. When her health started to deteriorate, she moved first to assisted living and then to nursing care at Crista Senior Center in Seattle.

She raised four children in Wichita, and was active there in Junior League. She was a life-long swimmer, and knitted blankets and caps for homeless people for many years. She is survived by two children, James Merchant in Portola Valley, California, and Thomas Merchant of Seattle; a sister, Sue Wievesiek, in Clackamas, Oregon: six grandchildren and nine great-grandchldren.