Katharine Jackson Merriman, “Kit,” (1940 to 2019) died peacefully at home on November 21, 2019, after an extended and valiant battle against cancer. 

Kit was born and raised in Providence. She attended Madeira School and Sarah Lawrence College before moving to New York City to begin a long career working in the travel industry. 

After meeting Howard Richmond Merriman Jr., “Hap,” to whom she was engaged within six weeks and married for 52 years, Kit moved home to Rhode Island where she and Hap lived, worked, raised a family and cultivated communities in both Providence and Little Compton, and later in Vero Beach, Florida. 

She enjoyed years of playing tennis, paddle, golf and bridge at Agawam Hunt, Sakonnet Golf, Quail Valley and Riomar Country clubs and was an active, engaged and adored member of those communities. Kit had a passion for all-things travel and, after living as a young woman in Florence, Italy, she embraced every opportunity to adventure the world with family and friends. 

A talented artist, Kit expressed her unique and elegant flair through painting, basket weaving, interior design and her signature and widely-admired sense of fashion and personal style. Gracious, generous, playful and kind, Kit was a friend and brought a smile to everyone she met.

Upon becoming a grandmother in 2000, Kit became affectionately known as “Gogo,” a name that reflected her indomitable spirit and passion for fun. Kit’s “joie de vivre” spirit will be carried on by her husband, Hap; her daughters, Katharine K Merriman “Kim” and Anne Merriman Wells; her son-in-law, David Wells; her three granddaughters; her brother, Edwin Jackson “Sandy”; and by countless relatives and cherished friends from all walks of life and corners of the globe. 

Kit is reunited with her father, Edwin Jackson, and her mother, Katharine Hilton Jackson. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Kit Merriman Scholarship Fund for Girls, Unite The World With Africa Foundation. Uniteafricafoundation.org.

An online guestbook is available at www.lowtherfuneralhome.com