Arlene
Merritt
Arlene Merritt was born in
Jermyn, Pennsylvania. She is the oldest of five children. The
father was a rural mail carrier. They lived on a small farm and
attended a township school and a rural Methodist church, part of
a three-point charge. Her parents were always active in the
church and encouraged her in career plans.
After graduation from high school she attended Scranton-Lackawanna Business College. During World War II she worked as a secretary at the Remington Rand Company in Johnson City, New York. When the war ended she became interested in the Methodist Youth Caravan movement. She became a member of a team that toured in the New England states. Fifty-two years later, she is still in touch with the counselor and three other team members. She also caravanned in Texas and then served as counselor in the Illinois Conference in 1950. The caravan experiences and a growing knowledge of missions convinced Arlene that her future should be in a church-related vocation. She entered Penn State University, and in two years transferred to Scarritt College, where she received a B.A. degree in June 1951.
After graduation she worked in the summer program of Kingdom House in St. Louis, Missouri. In the fall she went to Key West, Florida to be the Director of Wesley Community Center. While there she applied to become a deaconess. She was accepted and in January 1951 was commissioned by Bishop Arthur Moore at the Annual Board of Missions Meeting at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania. In the fall she left the work in Florida to enter Western Reserve University, where she earned a master’s degree in social work in 1958.
Her working world from then on was as Program Director, Wesley House Centers, Nashville, Tennessee; Social Work Consultant, Tai Wha Christian Social Center, Seoul, South Korea; Social Work Consultant, National Division Community Centers; Executive Director, Susannah Wesley Community Center, Honolulu; Assistant Professor of Social Welfare, Scarritt College, Nashville, Tennessee; Social Work Consultant and teacher of English, Good Neighbor Christian Center, Morioka, Japan; and Coordinator of Services to Older Adults, Wesley Community House, Louisville, Kentucky. During her working years and in retirement she has continued her interest in traveling. She has visited more than fifty-five countries.