Merilyn Louise Duff

On April 21st, 1948, Marj and Pete Rudy welcomed their first child. They named her Merilyn. While they couldn’t have known it, they picked out the perfect name, as Merilyn means rebellious. Merilyn was never afraid to speak her mind, even if it ruffled a few feathers.

She had an idyllic childhood growing up on Lake Washington. Bellevue was quite small at the time. In fact, when they brought Merilyn home, they lived in a small 2 bedroom home. They later built the family’s long time home with space for her younger, surviving siblings Linda, followed by Terry.

Merilyn attended Marylhurst after attending Bellevue High School. Marylhurst, the region’s oldest women’s liberal arts college, is a Catholic college. The strict dorm curfew provided Merilyn with plenty of opportunity for mischief and protest.

Merilyn soon joined the airlines, and there made many lifelong friends. She frequently took advantage of her job perks and traveled far and wide, usually to enjoy the sun. She flew frequently to Hawaii and even went to Australia and Hong Kong in the 1970s.

On February 14th, 1974 Merilyn married Gary Duff. After marrying, they rented the house across the street for two years prior to ultimately purchasing their first and only home, in July 1975. They remained together in Magnolia for 48 years of marriage. With a shared passion for community interests, they pursued many activities including tugboats and tugboat racing. Model A meets and later the annual Winthrop Car Show with their 1940 Ford.

Merilyn later worked as a bookkeeper, although she always maintained that she didn’t like math. While she didn’t enjoy working with numbers, this job provided her the flexibility and time, as well as the opportunity to help her parents around the house and yard once a week on Wednesdays, for thirty years. She often commented that her mom had taught her patience over those years and remained hopeful that she had redeemed herself for her rebellious ways, to both her parents.

Merilyn was a beloved aunt, neighbor, and friend to many. She was generous, authentic, and very fun. She gave up needle point for knitting some years ago and loved to make gifts and donations of her work, especially fleece blankets for unhoused children. She is greatly missed, as well as her pies, raspberries, beautiful bouquets, gardening knowledge, her mid-winter feasts, her feistiness and maybe most of all her out of tune singing happy birthday and ABBA.

Her last weekend on Earth was a joyous one. Merilyn passed on April 26, 2022, after spending a long weekend celebrating her grandnieces 1st Birthday with her surviving family: Husband Gary, brother Terry, sister Linda and Linda’s three children (Meggin, Ryan and Caitlin) two grandnieces and grandnephew.

Services will be held at: Evergreen Washelli, 11111 Aurora Ave N., Seattle, WA. 98133. Saturday, July 9th @ 1pm

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to one of many causes that were near and dear to Merilyn’s heart which she actively supported: https://summitdogs.org, Summit Assistance Dogs; https://secure.actblue.com, progressive, grassroot lobbyist groups; https://www.firstplaceschool.org, First Place Schools, supporting families and children who live with housing instability in Seattle.