Merrill Gaines

Published 2:29 pm Friday, October 22, 2010

Funeral services for Merrill Juanita Glenn Gaines, 84, of Bainbridge, Ga., were held Saturday, Oct. 23, at New Messiah Missionary Baptist Church with Pastor Alfred Smith III officiating.

Interment was in the church cemetery.

Mrs. Gaines was born Jan. 12, 1926, in Bainbridge and shortly after her marriage, she began a new life in Detroit, Mich. She sang in the choir of the Northwest Unity MB Church and was self taught on the piano. She provided home care services for disabled families.

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After 54 years in Detroit, she joined her daughter in Dallas, Texas, where she lived until she returned home to Bainbridge.

She was preceded in death by two sons, Napoleon Gaines Jr. and Leonard Gaines; three brothers, Carnell Glenn, Nelson Glenn and Howard Glenn; and one sister, Maxie Duncan.

She is survived by one daughter, Gwenda McDonald; two sons, Michael Gaines and Lesley Gaines; one brother, Alfred Glenn; four sisters, Jerrilene Johnson, Elmira Nixon, Lennie C. Jones and Alma Sanders; one grandson, great-grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends.

Guyton Brothers Funeral Home was in charge of the arrangements.