Lindsey Milan Chapman Merritt, 12, died peacefully of cancer at home with her family Oct. 7. She was the daughter of Del and Jacqueline Merritt of Damariscotta.
Lindsey was adopted on Nov. 18, 2002, moving from the city of Dongguan, Guangdong Province, China, to Damariscotta. Lindsey was enrolled in the 8th grade at GSB School. She played flute in the band, was a member of the field hockey team, and Girl Scout Troop 2144. She competed for the CLC gymnastics team, and is an honorary member of the Bowdoin Women’s Soccer Team. Lindsey is best known for her sparkling smile and contagious laugh, which have captured the hearts of her many friends here and around the world.
Lindsey led a full and active life – “A good life” by her own accounting. Her first love was dancing which she began in China. She attended ballet classes at Midcoast Dance Studio, Newcastle; The Chinese School, Portland; Chinese Summer Dance Program, Woburn, Mass.; and The Ballet School, Topsham, where she studied pointé for two years. Lindsey hiked Mt. Washington, the Great Wall of China, across a volcano crater, and behind Niagara Falls. She walked the beaches of the Damariscotta River, Lake Michigan, Waikiki, the Atlantic Ocean, and both sides of the Pacific. She hugged a six month old panda in China, Barbara Bush’s dog, an opera diva backstage, and a TV cast on set. She visited Chinatown in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York. She loved to ski, hike, camp, swim, sail, ride bicycles, cook Chinese food, and be with her cats.
On Sept. 26, Lindsey and Make A Wish Foundation of Maine hosted a “Celebration of Life” party at the Spruce Point Inn. Over 300 family, friends, and members of the community attended. The cast and crew of CSI: NY sent their best wishes by video. The Governor and legislature named the 26th “Lindsey Milan Chapman Merritt Day” in recognition of her courage through her whole life and in particular in her fight against cancer. A star was named in her honor. The night was filled with good food, music, dancing, pictures, love, and laughter.
She was predeceased by grandparents, Glen and Marcena Merritt.
Lindsey is survived by her parents; brothers, Nathan, Matthew, and Zachariah; aunts, Karen, Daphne, Daiscia, Anna, Barbara, Jen, and Gretchen; uncles, Topher, Jordan, Charlie, David, Chuck, and Eric; first cousins, Joshua, Rachel, CJ, Olive, Cole and George; and grandparents, David and Louise Belknap of Damariscotta, and Suzanne Bynum of Penzanze, England.
There will not be a formal memorial service; Lindsey instead requests you remember her smiling at her celebration party. Visiting hours were Oct. 10. Her ashes will be spread on Belknap Point, Damariscotta, and in Dongguan, China, in private gatherings.
A number of her GSB friends will be walking in her honor at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Damariscotta this Sun., Oct. 17.
Lindsey and the Merritt family request that in lieu of gifts, friends consider making donations to one of the following organizations: Lindsey Merritt Dance Scholarship Fund, The Ballet School, 799 Middlesex Rd., Topsham, ME 04086, contact: Jessica Holloway, 207-729-6794 (please note the scholarship fund is currently in the process of becoming an official 501(c)(3) and donations will not become tax deductible until non-profit status is granted in Dec. 2010); Moving Mountains China, P.O. Box 93, Rye, NH 03870, contact: 603-964-8000 or kim@movingmountains-china.org (Moving Mountains provides scholarships to exceptionally bright young women in rural China).
