Opal Louise Merrick

Opal “Lorri” Louise Merrick passed away on July 24th, 2025, at the age of 74 at her home in Henderson, Nevada after an extended illness. Born in Tennessee on May 10th, 1951 to John and Opal (Hill) Brock she was the youngest of 6 children and was close to her mother. She moved around a lot as a child, and it was a hard life.

Two months after graduating from E.W. Grove High School in Paris, Tennessee, she married her first husband, Jimmy Dean Ellis, in 1969 at the age of 18. The couple was stationed in Germany for 2 years before moving to New Mexico. After their divorce in 1973 she was briefly married to James F. Cope. Lorri lived in New Mexico from Sept. 1972 to Jan. 1979 where she worked at Lockheed Martin's White Sands Missile Range facility for 7 years and attended New Mexico State University for 2 years. She started dating John Edward Merrick, he also worked at White Sands, but he got a better job at the Nevada Test Site. When she moved to join him in Las Vegas, Nevada in Jan. 1979 she started working for EG&G as a Technician II and married John in June 1979. After 1980 she was a Homemaker.

Lorri is survived by her three loving daughters, Julia (Merrick) Boran of Ohio, Lindsey Merrick-Rutledge of Minnesota, and Kimberly Merrick of Henderson, along with her cherished grandchildren, Aubrey Merrick, Logan Rutledge, Gavin Rutledge, Olivia Lavery, and Hanna Lavery. Lorri is preceded in death by her parents, husbands, and 5 brothers, and 3 sisters.

She loved video games and played them right up until her hands wouldn’t cooperate anymore. Then she moved to her love of reading and would read stacks of books. We will cherish the memories of Lorri forever, and she will be deeply missed by all who knew her.