Merle Quick

Carman

Merle Quick Carman , 95, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at Legacy Village in Thomasville. Born on July 2, 1927 in Pavo, GA, she was a resident of Thomasville, GA for over 75 years.

She worked for "the phone company" (which became Southern Bell, then Bellsouth) for several years in the early 1950s and met her lifelong best friends there. (Faye Pfister, Shirley Shiver Forrester, and Jewel Griffin).

After leaving the phone company, she became a Federal employee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the Thomasville office.  She was a disaster contract specialist and routinely flew to 9 states in the southeast after hurricanes in the  1960's – 1970's to determine how federal funds would be allocated for use in rebuilding the area.  She retired from FEMA in 1988 after 30 years.

After official retirement, she started an antique store and estate sale business with her niece Delores McCranie which they enjoyed for many years.  She loved attending auctions throughout the southeast and was considered a valuable source of information for many antiquities including pottery and jewelry.   In 2019 a relative, Bradley Quick of Tennessee, published a book on the Quick family history, beginning in the 1800s, where she provided most of the historical information. She was the oldest living person in the Quick lineage surviving at the time of her death.

She was a member of the Eastern Star for many years. She was also a member of First Presbyterian Church in Thomasville for over 50 years and attended Big Ochlocknee Baptist Church in her later years. She married James L. Carman, Jr. in 1950 and remained married to him until his death in 1989. They had one daughter named Diana M. Carman.

She is survived by her daughter Diana of Watkinsville, GA, and two granddaughters, Faith Kelnhofer of Houston TX, and Jana Kelnhofer of Washington DC. Also, by her special niece Delores McCranie, her son Jason, and her husband Charles; nieces Annette Dupree and Phyllis Johnson also of Thomasville, nephews, Mike Brock of Mooresville, IN, Don & Wendell Quick, great nephews Chris Quick and Ricky Quick, and great-niece, Karen Quick,  and numerous friends.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, March 31, 2023 at 1:00 pm at Whiddon Shiver Funeral Home.  In lieu of flowers, she would like for anyone interested to support Paralyzed Veteran's of America and Miss Kitty's Feline Sanctuary.