Mary "Lynn" Merriman Phillips

Mary “Lynn” Merriman Phillips died at age 85 on February 6, 2021, from Covid-related pneumonia. Her immediate and extended family send their deepest gratitude to all medical personnel at St. Francis Hospital in Monroe who provided Lynn the highest degree of care, compassion, and comfort. Cremation services will be provided by Mulhearn Funeral Home in Monroe.

Lynn was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, the youngest of four siblings including Grady, Fredericka and Ann. Her father, Grady Alton Merriman (1904-1970), had been employed in interior design and commercial art. Her mother, Mae Josephine Karsten Merriman (1902-1993), had been employed in elementary education and bookkeeping. Lynn’s parents demonstrated and instilled within her and her siblings strong work ethic, creativity, resilience, compassion, gratitude and graciousness.

Lynn graduated from Ouachita Parish High School, where she excelled academically and demonstrated love for and skill in writing and music and later became an accomplished poet and pianist. From Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, she earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in English. Lynn’s enthusiastic lifelong love of learning and teaching were irrepressible. She was unfailingly adored by her students and praised by supervisors who observed in Lynn both gift and determination to empower her students to learn and achieve at high levels of success in academics and character. Lynn was equally committed to nurturing her students’ genuine empathy for and compassion toward all things, both great and small. Through the years, her many teaching gifts were shared through employment in public and private schools, in addition to Richland College (Dallas) and The Art Institute of Dallas, from which she retired before returning home to her beloved state of Louisiana.

In 1954, Lynn married Jack Dean Phillips, Jr., a former combat fighter pilot for both the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, who became owner and CEO of a hydraulics manufacturing and sales company in Dallas. Lynn and Jack had two children, Jaclyn and Dean, both of whom followed their mother’s footsteps in becoming dedicated and effective teachers. Jaclyn also became an international translator for a large corporation and, later, office manager of her husband’s medical practice. Dean also became a Certified Special Needs Counselor and, later, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) specializing in adolescent mental health. Although divorced in 1982, Lynn and Jack remained close friends until his death in 2017.

Lynn was preceded in death by both parents; ex-husband, Jack Dean Phillips, Jr.; brother, Grady Butler Merriman and his wife Pat; sister, Fredericka Merriman Durham and her husband Howard.

Lynn is survived by sister Ann Cline Galloway and husband, Trent (Monroe); daughter, Jaclyn Esposito and her husband Salvo (Frisco, TX); son, Jack Dean Phillips, III, and his wife Kim (Denton, TX); grandson, Ryan Chambless and his wife Mary (Dallas, TX); and grandsons Patrick Esposito (Czech Republic) and Mark Esposito (Chicago, IL). Lynn is also survived by beloved nieces and nephews including Keith, Kim and Kurt Merriman, and Pamela Johananoff.

Online Registry/Condolences: www.mulhearnfuneralhome.com