WAKE FOREST - Catherine O’Neal Merritt, 79, died Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012 at Duke Raleigh Hospital in Raleigh. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26, at New Liberty Baptist Church in Louisburg. Burial will follow in Evergreen Cemetery in Franklinton. The family will receive friends from 1:30-2 p.m. Sunday at the church.

She was born in Franklin County to the late John and Leora Spivey O’Neal. She was  a  graduate of B. F. Person High School and a member of New Liberty Baptist Church, where she served as president of the Usher Board, financial secretary, Pastor’s Aide Society member and choir member. She was a homemaker.

Surviving: husband, Louis H. Merritt of the home; daughter, Brenda M. Vinson (James) of Knightdale; son, Gregory H. Merritt (Joyce) of Raleigh; brothers, James O’Neal (Betsy) of Franklinton and John O’Neal of Washington, D.C.; sisters, Frances Williams (Robert) of Silver Spring, Md., Della McCowan (Arthur) of Laurel, Md., and Ella Bolden of Franklinton; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Arrangements by Feggins & Feggins Funeral and Cremation Services, Inc., Wake Forest.