ORANGE PARK – Surrounded by a host of family and friends, Rae Merritt celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, Nov. 15.
A crowd showed up to Lakeside Church of Christ to eat cake, drink punch and have a few laughs with Merritt on her special day.
Merritt moved to Jacksonville in 1943, then to Orange Park the following year. Merritt worked at the Ramspot Drugstore in Fairfax until she took the exam to begin working on aircraft at Naval Station Jacksonville, where she served as Director of the Junior USO.
After she wed her husband in 1946, they cleared land on a 3-acre property at the center of the town — land his family had purchased years back. There, they built their first house, where she still lives today.
Merritt was known as “Rosie the Riveter” at NAS, and worked on aircraft, magnetos, wired engines and attached wings, eventually becoming a requisition clerk. She paused to have two children, Debra Gaskins and Cleve Merritt.
Later on, Merritt began the safety patrol program at Orange Park Elementary, painting the first yellow crosswalks across Stiles Avenue. In 1955, she was hired at the Orange Park Post Office as a substitute mail carrier, delivering mail to rural parts of the county.
In 1960, she became a postal clerk and retired in 1976 as the Superintendent of Mail Operations.
To add to her long list of accomplishments, Merritt was also a founding member of Lakeside Church of Christ. During the church’s early years, she and a group of others used to meet at Grove Park Elementary for services until the current church was built in the late 70s.
Looking back on a life filled with service and legacy, Merritt said the secret to reaching 100 is simple.
“Just keep going.”