Growing up, John Merriman was the only one in his circle of friends whose mother worked outside the home. The fact that Woodene “Woody” Bell Merriman ’46 Com was a reporter for the McKeesport Daily News meant that John and his three siblings had more responsibilities around the house than their friends, and were sometimes asked to taste-test recipes for her column. But decades later, girls who’d grown up on the Merrimans’ street gave John a new perspective. “They said Woody was an inspiration to them,” says John ’74 Edu of his mother, called “Woody” by everyone. “They grew up seeing her drive down the road to work, and they’d think maybe someday they could do that, too.”

Merriman began her trailblazing ways as a Penn State student, when she became the first female full-time editor of the Daily Collegian. “She was very proud of that,” John says. As the women’s editor at the Daily News, she wrote about women’s issues such as fashion and cooking—but more pressing things, too. She applied for credit at several stores without using her husband’s name, was repeatedly rejected, and wrote about it.

“She was really assertive that way, and wrote many stories about the women’s movement,” John says. “She had a lot of spunk.” A longtime member of the National Organization for Women, Merriman was honored at her funeral by several members in attendance wearing pins that read “Uppity Women Unite.”

From 1977 to 2005, she held several roles at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, including restaurant and food critic, lifestyle editor, and assistant managing editor.

Merriman died Aug. 19, 2023, in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 97. Besides John, she is survived by sons Klein Jr. and Peter; daughter Judy Regan; a brother, Leonard Bell ’58 Bus; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. —RR