Merrill, Ann

Ann Merrill in Doorway of Ranchos de Taos home, circa 1970

Ann Merrill was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, as Ann Etta Findeisen. Her mother Margaret Findeisen and her father Charles Walter Findeisen moved to California when Ann was still a little girl with their younger son Charlie. When the children were about 6 and 4, the couple divorced. Margaret later married Ernie Hamilton. Years later, Ernie and Margaret went to Taos and became friends with Frank Waters.

Ann grew up in Pasadena, CA, went to College at UCLA and graduated with honors in English. She married David Merrill who was a medical resident in New York. They moved back to Pasadena, California and had three children, Tim, Blandy, and Lolly. When the children were 16, 13, and 11, David divorced Ann. This was very devastating and Ann struggled with her grief for a long time. She began to find herself and began to study Zen Buddhism and painting. She held salons at the house in Pasadena, attended by artists, dancers, and poets. Teo Morca, who danced with Maria Benitez from Taos attended some of the salons.

Ann had planned to move to Santa Barbara after the divorce, but her plan changed when she read The Man Who Killed the Deer. She was very moved by it and wrote to Frank Waters. He wrote back and encouraged her to come to Taos.

She went to Taos in 1965 and fell in love with the area. She decided to move there with her 2 girls; her son was in his first year of college. They moved into an adobe house called the "Tony House," built by Mabel Dodge Lujan. After a year or so, Ann and her daughters moved from the Tony House to a small house in Ranchos de Taos where Ann lived until 1996. Ann was part of a local group of artists (Spud Johnson, Jonathan Scott, Fritz, and Louise Gantier) who would get together a few times a month for a "sketch group." Frank was friends with all of the members of this group and would often host the group at his home in Arroyo Seco.

Ann and Frank spent a lot of time together and developed a very close friendship. Frank introduced Ann to many of Taos’ interesting people. He took her and the girls to dances and Pueblos. Frank treated Ann’s daughters like his own. After Frank married Barbara, Ann and her family had less and less contact with him. Ann Merrill passed away on April 6, 2008.

Source: Excerpted from letter regarding Ann Merrill and Frank Waters from Lolly Merrill Stafford, 4/10/2012. Letter is housed in the collection.

From the guide to the Ann Merrill correspondence from Frank Waters, 1965-2012, 1966-1979, (University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research)