Iris Merritt

Iris M. Merritt, age 86 of Smithboro, passed away Monday, May 29, 2023, at Greenville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Greenville.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 p.m. Thursday, June 1, 2023, at the Donnell – Wiegand Funeral Home in Greenville. Pastor Russell Sidwell will officiate. Interment will follow in Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Visitation will be Thursday from 12 Noon until service time. In lieu of flowers and plants, please make donations to the Bond County Humane Society.

Iris, the daughter of Virgil and Bonnie (Grandfield) Sidwell, was born July 4, 1936, at the family home rural Vandalia in Fayette County, Illinois. She grew up in Brownstown, Illinois, attended the local schools and Brownstown High School. Iris worked for 20 years at Utlaut Memorial Hospital in Greenville. She retired from there.

Her greatest loves were her family and seeing the grandchildren. Iris was an avid gardener and enjoyed canning. She loved her cats and had several.

Surviving are her 3 daughters: Debra Koonce and husband Robert of Greenville, Terry Myers of Dwight, Illinois, and Tammy Shingleton of Pontiac, Illinois. Loving grandmother to: Kirby Klosterman and husband Tom, Casey Lubiewski and husband Jason, Crystal Nelson, Stephanie Nelson, and Haley Swain. Great-grandmother to: Gavin, Ava, Kaden, Lily, Grayson, Charlie, Finleigh, Brayden, Jaxon, and Levi. She is also survived by a sister Carol Barnick of Brownstown, Illinois.

Preceded in death by her parents, grandson Steven Eugene, and her brother Carl Sidwell.