Naomi Inez Merrick-Mauldin

Naomi “Nickie” Merrick-Mauldin, peacefully passed away at her home in Cottonwood on October 25, 2025, at the age of 95. A woman of tremendous strength, the matriarch of her family, she fought throughout her life to care for and support her children and grandchildren. She will be dearly missed.

Nickie was born June 15, 1930, in Redding. She is preceded in death by her parents, Ernest and Wanda Snell Elder and her six siblings: Robert Elder, Harriet Miles, Viola Elder, Marion Elder, Dolores Robinson, Jerry Elder and Ronald Elder, nephew, raised as her brother. She was descended from pioneers of Butte County and eastern Shasta County.

Nickie was adventurous and left home at the age of 17 to see the country. She went to work for a traveling magazine sales company where she met her first husband, Warren Merrick, the father of her five children. The company was headquartered in Jackson, MS, where she lived for almost 20 years and where her children were born. In 1966 she separated from her husband and moved back to Redding. She was a survivor of breast cancer at a time when most women died of the disease. She worked successfully at W.T. Grant department store and Shasta General Hospital. She remarried in 1984 to Rod Mauldin who sadly passed away from lung cancer seven months later. In her retirement years, after living almost 40 years in Redding, she lived six years in Crescent City and eight years in Chico before moving to Cottonwood six years ago. She enjoyed spending time with many family members and traveling to see them, whether it was in California, Arizona, Oklahoma, Virginia or Missouri. She also enjoyed the few trips she took to Mississippi to visit her best friend, Katharine Kalahar. A special trip she took in 2004 was to Alaska, driving her small RV while following her nephew, Ron and his wife Sharon, in their RV. It was an awesome two-month journey! After the age of 80, she happily made several trips to Maui and cruised the Caribbean. One cruise was to the Panama Canal.

She is survived by her five children, Sandra (Wayne) LaFlamme, Linda Buzzini, Deborah (Mike) Byrd, Warren Merrick Jr. and James (Laura) Merrick; 14 grandchildren, Tracy LaFlamme, Eric LaFlamme, Faith (Jim) Borden, Brett (Paula) Buzzini, Hope Campbell, Derek (Tiffanie) Byrd, Ian Byrd, Audra (Jeremy) Frazier, Gavin Merrick, Ryan (Natalie) Merrick, Adam (Lee) Merrick, Kyle (Jamie) Merrick, Nicole (Matt) Iles, Chris Goff. Nickie also has 29 great-grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews who will also dearly miss her.

Nickie’s life will be honored with a memorial service on November 17th at Lawncrest Chapel and Memorial Park at one p.m. Following the service, a gathering for celebrating her life will be held at a location to be announced.