Myron Lee "Bit" Merritt

Longtime Naples resident Myron Lee "Bit" Merritt, 82, died peacefully Nov. 17, 2020, at All About Care Assisted Living in Anchorage, Alaska. Bit had been an Alaska resident since July 2020.

A memorial service has been planned for Saturday, June 12, at Harrison Funeral Home in Naples. Visitation is set for 11 a.m., with the service beginning at noon. The Rev. Jack Cox will officiate.

A graveside service will follow at Spring Hill Cemetery.

Bit was born May 18, 1938, in Magnolia, Ark., the only child of Corbin and Doris Merritt. Corbin worked for the Sterling Stores — an Arkansas-based five-and-dime company — that moved the family to Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Myron spoke fondly of his time roaming the woods of Arkadelphia, Ark., where the nickname "Bit" — short for Little Bit — was coined by an older friend.

The family settled in Mount Pleasant, Texas, in 1952, after Corbin bought the Ben Franklin store on the town square. As a newcomer at Mount Pleasant High School, Bit made fast friends. While his dream of playing football for the Tigers was cut short by an appendectomy, he joined the school's nationally-renowned marching band, where he played the cornet.

After graduating in 1956, he attended North Texas State University in Denton, where he majored in psychology and was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. It was at North Texas where he met a business major named Cecilia "Cela" Blakely. They were married in October 1963.

After graduation from North Texas, Bit also earned a degree as a Laboratory Technologist, and the newly-married couple eventually settled in Texarkana, where he worked for Wadley Hospital. They welcomed a son, Steven, to their Wake Village home in 1966.

The young family lived in the Panhandle town of Borger and crossed the state line to live in Shreveport for a time before returning to Mount Pleasant. In 1971, they moved to Naples, where Bit became the chief of the lab at David Granberry Memorial Hospital. The couple's second child, Nikki, was born in July 1972. He moved on to run the labs of private clinics in the area in the 1980s and later left the profession to join the maintenance staff of the Pewitt School District.

An avid sports fan, he also was a youth coach, World War II history buff, amateur photographer, golfer, brisket-smoking aficionado and loved time spent with family at Possum Kingdom Lake. A lifelong hunter and fisherman, he extolled the virtues of a sharp knife, a clean and respected firearm, never wasting fish or game and leaving no trace. He had a ring full of keys to various farm pond gates across northern Morris County — a testament to the respect shown to the land and the landowner where he was allowed to fish.

He was a talker, a teaser, a beloved friend to many and a principled man.

To say he was a football fan would be an understatement. If there was a game, he was watching it, especially if it involved the Dallas Cowboys. That love of the game translated to high school sports as well, as his support of the Pewitt Brahmas made a lasting impression on coaches and players.

Cela passed in 2002, and in retirement Bit looked after his mother and maintained his many lifelong friendships. In later years, his companionship with Ruth Ann Potter provided for a fulfilling and very loving relationship. They traveled, enjoyed dancing and easily made new friends.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Nikki and Barry McKelvey of Tyler; "bonus" grandchildren Dillan McKelvey and Kaleigh McKelvey, of Tyler; son and daughter-in-law, Steven and Belle Merritt of Palmer, Alaska; grandsons Thomas, John and Arthur Merritt of Palmer, Alaska; and sister-in-law, Johnnye Ewing, of Mansfield, Texas.

Memorial donations can be made to the American Cancer Society, Pewitt Alumni Association or the Pewitt Athletic Booster Club.