Virginia Beth Merrill

       Virginia Beth “Ginger” Merrill was born on November 3, 1926 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Dr. Frank Martin and Irby May (Fry) Keen.  During her preschool years, as her father pursued his medical education, the family lived for a time in the State of Washington, then in Nicoma Park, Oklahoma.  Shawnee once again became home, and Virginia completed her education there, graduating in 1945.  Then she attended Monticello College for Women in Illinois one year.  For the remainder of her higher education, she attended Oklahoma University in Norman, graduating in 1949.  She was and is a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority.       In June, 1949, she married William John Hackler in Florida.  They lived there awhile, then moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and then back to Shawnee.  In 1955, they settled in Frederick, Oklahoma, where he continued to be employed in sales.  In 1957, Virginia cofounded and continued as a leader in the first Camp Fire Girls organization in Frederick.  A talented pianist, she was a member of the Frederick Philharmonic Club.  The marriage ended in 1967.  From 1967 to 1969, Virginia worked as a social worker for the Oklahoma Welfare Department, now  the Department of Human Services.        On November 25, 1969, Virginia married N. O. Brantly, a local inventor and manufacturer.  His varied business interests attracted associates, clients and venture capitalists from all over the world.  Virginia, an excellent cook, was a great asset to her husband by entertaining many of those people in the home with sumptuous meals.  Mr. Brantly died in July, 1993.         On September 5, 1998, Virginia married J L Merrill, a former Oklahoma Tax Commissioner who had retired to Frederick in 1986.  Both Presbyterians, they met at church, sang in the choir, and both served as elders.  Virginia also served as Clerk of the Session, the local governing board of the church. After their church closed its doors in 2008, they attended the First United Methodist Church for four years, until bad health precluded attendance.         Virginia was a great nature lover, and enjoyed simple things like  birdwatching, watching clouds move in the sky, listening to birds and wind in trees, watching ants climb up a tree, sunrises and sunsets, watching the tide come in, enjoying pretty flowers and beautiful scenery, and listening to peaceful classical music..   She was an avid reader, and also a dedicated gardener.  There was nothing she liked better than to dig in the dirt and plant things which would become beautiful flora in her yard.  She landscaped and tended two large flowerbeds, and the chosen flowers were gorgeous.  She also was a very talented artist, and produced many beautiful paintings.  And she did exquisite needlework, particularly counted cross-stitch.        The greatest sorrow in her life was that she never had children.  She wanted them so badly, but it was just not to be.        She is survived by her husband; a brother-in-law,  Dr. William Ashby; nephew William Brent Ashby and wife Lynnette in Iowa; nephew Frank Conrad Ashby and wife Heidi in California; niece Virginia Ann Ashby in Oregon; stepdaughter Lynne Wilkins and husband William in Wales; step-granddaughters Laura Rose Wilkins and Lucy Elizabeth Wilkins in London; and stepdaughter Nikki Richardson in Plainview, Texas.        She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Barbara Jean Ashby.