Helen Joanna Merrill was born April 27, 1895, in Jacksonville to shipbuilder James E. Merrill and his wife, Helen Small Merrill. As a young lady, she was a member of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Junior Auxiliary, where they held a button-hole contest. In the senior group, Helen, aged 14, won the first prize, a large handsome pair of embroidery scissors. In 1910, she graduated from Jacksonville Grammar School.
Helen attended Salem College, Winston-Salem, N.C., and Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. At some point, she met William Azor Schell. William graduated from the University of North Carolina and was employed with the Schell-Sasse Lumber Company in Jacksonville. For a young woman and from a prominent family, many social events were held for the bride-elect prior to the wedding. Two weeks before the wedding, parties were held in Helen’s honor. There were nine bridge luncheons, a sewing party, an afternoon tea and finally, the rehearsal. The wedding was held at Helen’s home, 1281 Lancaster Terrace. After a trip to the North, the couple resided in Avondale.
William Schell, a sales manager for the Schell-Sasse Manufacturing Company, became the general manager of the new M.O. Huck Paint Company in Miami, where the couple moved with their small son, William, Jr., in 1926. William Schell died at age 40 in 1930. Helen and her son moved back to Jacksonville and in 1931, she married William Henry Slappey. William Slappey began his long career at the General Insurance Agency at 317 W. Forsyth Street at age 20 and by 1959, was manager, where he celebrated 50 years there. He died in 1963 at age 74.
Helen’s mother, Helen Small Merrill, was a charter member of the National Society, Daughters of 1812, in Florida. She was an honorary State president and was the first historian of the Florida Society, which was organized in 1910. She died in 1921, the same year daughter Helen Joanna Merrill was elected State president (1921-23), and later made honorary State president, of the National Society, Daughters of 1812, in Florida.
The Merrill Shipbuilding family contributed in many ways to the war efforts. During World War II, Helen was on the staff at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station hospital, where she worked with psychiatric and surgical patients. In 1949, when the Memorial Unit of the Duval Medical Center was opened, Helen was asked to organize an occupational therapy program. Every Thursday, she instructed the patients in artwork, leatherwork, woodcraft, shell work, and sewing, and initiated a coffee hour for the patients. With limited funds, Helen worked hard for donations.
Helen didn’t think indoor therapy was enough, so she began working on the grounds around the Memorial Unit building, and encouraged patients to plant a garden. The garden circles in town helped with landscaping and shuffleboard courts and placed lawn tables and chairs there for the patients.
Helen Joanna Merrill Slappey was also among those who helped organize the Duval Medical Center Auxiliary in 1952 and actively campaigned for the Occupational Therapy Building. Before she died in 1965, Helen’s humanitarian efforts had contributed greatly to helping the sick in the community.
Nancy Gandy | Merrill House Museum Coordinator