Nora R. (McKenna) Demeritt, 94, 40-Year Hale Nurse

nora_demerittNora R. (McKenna) Demeritt, 94, of Plaistow, N.H., formerly of Haverhill, passed away Saturday, Oct. 1, at Holy Family Hospital in Methuen surrounded by her loving family.

Born in Winooski, Vt., she was the daughter of the late, Francis M. and Delia (Craighan) McKenna. She attended school in Burlington, Vt., and was a graduate of St. Mary’s Academy class of 1940. Demeritt met the love of her life, Robert Demeritt, while working for the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1940s. They married and settled in Haverhill in 1947. Demeritt was employed at the former Hale Hospital in Haverhill for 40 years. After retiring she volunteered at the Haverhill senior citizens center until the age of 90.

She was the widow of  Robert C. Demeritt who died in 1989. She leaves her children, John “Jack” Demeritt and his wife, Margaret, of Hampton, N.H., and Laurie Connolly and her husband, Jeremiah, of Hampstead, N.H.; daughter-in-law, Susan Demeritt, of West Newfields, Maine; three sisters, Margaret Prescott, of Plaistow, N.H., Dorothy McKenna, of Burlington, Vt., and Patricia Viens, of Fort Myers, Fla.; 11 grandchildren; 16great grandchildren; a great great granddaughter; and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her son, Francis E. Demeritt and siblings, Bernard, John, Lawrence, and Thomas McKenna, Mary Benoit, and Catherine Dudgeon.

Family and friends are respectfully invited to calling hours Tuesday, from 4 to 7 p.m., at Kevin B. Comeau Funeral Home, 486 Main St., Haverhill. Funeral services begin at 10, Wednesday morning, from the funeral home with a Mass of Christian Burial to be celebrated at 11 a.m., at St. John the Baptist Church, 110 Lincoln Ave. Haverhill. Burial is private. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 220 North Main St. Suite 104, Natick, MA  01760 or the St. Vincent dePaul Society, 6 Cottage St. Haverhill, MA 01830.