Evalyn Susan (Block) Merrick, lovingly known as "Ev," “Mom,” and “Nonnie,” passed away on June 20, 2026, at Community Hospice House in Merrimack, New Hampshire, surrounded by the love of her family after a courageous 6-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 72 years old.

Born on July 11, 1953, in Queens, New York, to Carol Lu Spinrad and David Block, Evalyn lived a life defined by compassion, resilience, generosity, and an extraordinary capacity to love others. While she would go on to become an advocate, legislator, actor, educator, and community leader, the roles she treasured most were mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, and caregiver.

To know Ev was to know someone who made every interaction about the other person. She had a rare gift for making people feel seen, heard, and valued. Even in her final days, as pancreatic cancer was taking its toll, she greeted visitors with warmth, empathy, and concern for their well-being. While enduring tremendous pain and discomfort herself, she worked to comfort everyone around her.

Family was the center of Ev’s world. She was a devoted mother to her daughter, Rachel, son, Scott, son-in-law, Scott, and daughter-in-law, Mikayla, and an extraordinary "Nonnie" to Lucas, Lilly, Noah, and Jonah. She fought hard to meet her youngest grandson, born 7 weeks before her passing, and treasured every moment she shared with each of her grandchildren. She celebrated their accomplishments, attended their events, shared stories, offered advice, and loved them with her whole heart. Her grandchildren brought her immeasurable joy, and her legacy will live on through them.

For nearly thirty years, Ev battled multiple myeloma with remarkable strength and determination. Through countless treatments, setbacks, and recoveries, she refused to stop living. She continued traveling, volunteering, performing, advocating, and making memories with family and friends, refusing to let illness define her life. Those who knew her often marveled not only at her resilience, but at her ability to remain optimistic, engaged, and focused on others despite the challenges she faced.

Her experience as a cancer patient inspired one of her proudest accomplishments. Following a stem cell transplant in 2002, medical cannabis helped her survive severe nausea and wasting syndrome during recovery. Determined to ensure other patients could access the same relief, she became a leading advocate for medical cannabis in New Hampshire. As a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from Coös County from 2006 to 2012, serving on the Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee, she led the effort to bring medical cannabis to the state, improving the lives of thousands of patients and families.

Service to others was her lifelong commitment. Beyond the Legislature, she volunteered with Hospice of Lancaster, served on the Lancaster Zoning Board and the Weeks Hospital Auxiliary Board, chaired the Lancaster Democrats, and advocated for blood cancer research through the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Ev was also a lifelong performer. She loved music, dance, theater, and storytelling, and rarely missed an opportunity to see a Broadway production. She began dancing at age five and never lost her love of the stage. Her love of acting began at six when she appeared in her first production, Que Sera, Sera. Over the years, she performed, directed, and choreographed with the Lyric Theatre of Performing Arts, Colonel Town Players and the Weathervane Theatre, appeared in independent films including Spin the Plate and Bear Brook, and was featured in the online series Unconditional Love and recently released episodes of Love Undone.

Outside of her public work and artistic pursuits, Ev found joy in life’s simple pleasures. She loved horseback riding (earning accolades in her early years), skiing (sometimes as a teacher or ski patroller), golfing, kayaking, travel, photography, music, long walks "out east” with her close friends (the “WaWas”), and eating lobster, softshell crab, and steamed clams whenever possible. Among her favorite destinations were Nova Scotia, Cape Cod, France, and Manoir Hovey. She had a special affection for New England flowers, loved animals of every kind, and found meaning and comfort in dragonflies and cardinals – which became enduring spiritual symbols.

Ev earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and Castleton State College and later earned a Master of Education from the University of Vermont. She worked as a health educator, certified wellness consultant, historical tour guide at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel, actor, advocate, and state representative.

The world feels a little less bright without Ev in it. Yet her kindness, strength, humor, compassion, and fierce devotion to others remain. She taught us how to persevere, care deeply, and find joy even in difficult circumstances.

When people called Ev beautiful, they meant far more than her outward appearance. Her true beauty was found in her compassion, generosity, and her remarkable ability to make others feel loved. It was reflected in the way she listened, the way she showed up for people, and the way she continued comforting others even during her own most difficult moments.

Ev wrote: “A devastating illness and diagnosis doesn’t define us… it encourages us to change our perspective, and if we allow it… It can make us stronger. We can use it as a learning tool… Not be questioning what, if anything, we did wrong, because we didn’t, but by saying… What can I learn from this new journey?”

Ev was predeceased by her parents, Carol Lu Spinrad and David Block, her step-father, Walter Spinrad, and her brother, Darrol Block.

She is survived by her daughter, Rachel Merrick Maggs and her husband, Scott Maggs; her son, Scott Merrick and his wife, Mikayla Foster; her beloved grandchildren, Lucas, Lilly, Noah, and Jonah; her siblings, Michel Sturm, Barry Block, Mark Block, Henry Block, Walter Spinrad, Anne Spinrad, and Marc Spinrad; and dozens of cherished nieces, nephews, cousins, and dear friends whose lives were forever enriched by her love.

Her family finds comfort knowing that her legacy lives on in the people she loved, the lives she touched, and the countless acts of kindness she inspired.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Evalyn's memory may be made to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation: https://cyo.themmrf.org/campaigns/In-Honor-of-Evalyn-Merrick.

To view Evalyn's Online Tribute, send condolences to the family, or for more information, visit https://csnh.com.

Assisting the family with arrangements is the Cremation Society of NH, Manchester