“Touch of class” mortician passes on

May 18, 2014 News

Described in many circles as a mortician with a touch of class, George Winslow Merriman had for many years embraced his profession with nothing short of integrity. This outstanding man has been credited with being the mastermind behind the establishment of one of the oldest funeral homes in the country – the Merriman’s Funeral Parlour.

George Winslow Merriman aka ‘Uncle George’

However, the nation was forced to bid farewell to this son of the soil who departed this life on April 28 last. He was 90 years old, and the last of 12 siblings to pass on to the great beyond.
As the youngest of the Merriman clan, George Merriman was born on September 28, 1923, in Georgetown, in the then British Guiana, to Wallace Augustus Merriman and Mary Alice Merriman née Smith.
According to his nephew, Justice Courtney Abel of the Supreme Court of Belize, who returned to Guyana just to attend the farewell service, Merriman was “a loving son to his parents, a loyal brother to his 11 brothers, and was a kindly gentleman of some considerable gentility.” In fact Justice Abel recalled that his uncle was simply known to most as “Uncle George,” who, though unqualified in his trade, was quite “a talented and industrious mortician of innovation and skill.”
Telling the story of Uncle George, Justice Abel recalled that the Merriman home was always a very loving, open, but tight-knit one which had all the comforts, since the patriarch was a seaman and therefore could have afforded the family a fairly decent standard of living.
This allowed all the Merrimans, including Uncle George, and the many other children raised in the household, to aspire to, and attain, a very high level of education, Justice Abel recalled.
Moreover, Uncle George, as a boy was able to attend the Freeburg and Smith Congregational schools. He later attended the Wooding Centre in Kingston where he pursued a trade that he took advantage of in the funeral business.
But unlike him, most of Uncle George’s brothers, like their father, were inclined to take to the sea but were unfortunately victims of that pursuit. For example during the war in 1945 Uncle George’s older brother, Walter, had his ship, Lady Hawkins, torpedoed and as a result he tragically lost his life. Most of the others were taken by the same medium to which their father had introduced them, to North America, to lead eventful lives there, all except Uncle George and his older brothers Cecil and Claude, both of whom remained in Guyana for most of their lives.
Like Uncle George, the story of Claude Merriman is one that is etched in the history and annals of Guyana and Georgetown. You see Claude Merriman will forever be remembered as a Government Public Health Official, founder of the successful Merriman’s Funeral Parlour in the 1950s, an elected Member of the Georgetown City Council, Deputy Mayor and then the Mayor of Georgetown, an elected Member of Parliament between 1961-1968 and a Government Minister in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, among other achievements.
But what is little known is that Uncle George was the co-founder with Claude, of the Merriman’s Funeral Parlour.
According to Justice Abel, in the early days the Funeral Parlour was based in New Market Street, directly opposite the Georgetown Hospital. And while Claude was busy pursuing his many interests in public life, Uncle George remained the real backbone of the business. In fact Justice Abel disclosed that it was the Funeral Parlour that provided the financial stability and the means for Claude to achieve the great heights he attained.
Uncle George was involved in, and effectively managed every aspects of the funeral business including the collecting and refrigeration of human remains which was the primary objective of the business. He was also the one who made and supervised the making of coffins and caskets. He even pioneered the development of the signature local wooden final resting places for families’ loved ones by using local manufactured materials for which the business became famous.

A section of the gathering bidding farewell to the beloved mortician.

Added to this, he negotiated and finalised funeral arrangements and the appropriate steps of the business including the final funeral procession and supervised the actual burials.
Eventually, in about 1974, the principal place of business of the Parlour moved to its present location at Lime and Bent Streets, and others got more involved in its management, Justice Abel recalled.
But Uncle George, shortly after a branch of Merriman’s Funeral Parlour was established at Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara, decided to manage operations from there as he had by then taken up residence in that community. He later became a very popular figure in the Plaisance area, a locality to which he subsequently moved to and made his home.
It was while at the Goedverwagting location that Uncle George was able to facilitate hundreds of persons who did not have a television of their own to view his television set. Moreover, his then home became for many, a community centre which provided such persons not only a place of refuge but also a focal point of going to and coming from work. The East Coast location was even a place for fishermen waiting to go to sea.
“All manner of persons visited and congregated, and there were usually lively discussions held too,” Justice Abel recalled. He also recounted how Uncle George frequently, and unselfishly, also fed, from his own pot, persons from the community on many occasions. He was also especially attentive to many children, some of whom he fostered.
“ As a master chef, he kept many persons very satisfied, and happy, with his culinary delicacies including black pudding, souse, gillbacker broth and many other delights, some of which he taught me and which I regularly impress people with,” said Justice Abel.
Moreover, Uncle George became well known and loved for his extraordinary acts of kindness. And what he will be most remembered for is the way he assisted many of the less fortunate families to bury their departed loved ones.
Moreover, in a moving tribute to Uncle George, Justice Abel passionately voiced his conviction that “it is fitting that, as a funeral man, he is given the present dignity of a funeral which he always strove to provide to others.”