Posted on 05/29/2018
Patricia Ann Merritt passed away peacefully on 5 May 2018. Patricia grew up in Lancaster, CA and graduated from Antelope Valley High School and later San Diego State University. Shortly after graduating from college, she met her late husband Bob Merritt on Coronado Island at the Mexican Village Restaurant & Cantina. They were married 57 years where they traveled the world, living in Hawaii, Northern CA, Newport News, VA, Naples, Italy and finally Bakersfield, CA. They loved entertaining, traveling, going on cruises and most of all, spending time with their family. Patricia loved to cook and belonged to a gourmet cooking club. She also loved playing bridge and tending to her garden. She always put her family first and dedicated her life to her three children and seven grandchildren. Until she became very ill in late 2017, she would visit her daughter in Atlanta, GA and her two sons in Northern and Southern CA. Her sense of humor never left her, and she continuously made her family and friends and even the nurses laugh and smile until the very end. An amazing Mother, Grandmother and friend, she will be missed by so many. She is survived by her three children, Rob (Christina), Connie Dinsmore (Brad) and Joe (Katherine) and seven grandchildren. We are at peace knowing that Patricia is in heaven with her husband dancing to Frank Sinatra as they did throughout their entire marriage. A service will be held at 12:00 pm on 2 June 2018 at the Solera Clubhouse room where she loved to worship on Sundays (next to the Rio Bravo Country Club). Immediately following the service, we will celebrate her life with a Mexican Fiesta at her beautiful home in Rio Bravo. Her ashes will be inurned at the U.S. Naval Academy Columbarium with her late husband Bob.
Published in Bakersfield Californian on May 27, 2018