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Bar News - May 4, 2001 In Memoriam - Pauline S. Merrill ONE OF THE first female lawyers in New Hampshire and the second female attorney to practice in Grafton County, Pauline Swain Merrill, 96, of Colebrook, died March 31, 2001, at the Coos County Nursing Hospital. Born May 8, 1904, in Jamaica Plain, Mass., Merrill was the daughter of Clarence G. and Mary F. (Bliss) Swain. She graduated cum laude from Northeastern University in 1928 and later earned her degree of juris doctorate from Northeastern. She was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar in 1928 and to the NH Bar in 1929. Merrill practiced in Boston and in Bristol, NH, with her father at Swain and Swain. After her father’s death, she opened a solo practice in Bristol, a general practice in which she did mostly real estate and probate work. She took a hiatus from the practice of law to raise her family, but in the early ‘60s reopened her own law office, according to her son, John Merrill. In 1983, Merrill moved her law office to her house in New Hampton, where she practiced for the next seven years. She retired, for the most part, in 1992, at the age of 88, but continued to provide minor legal services for friends and neighbors, according to her son. "If somebody asked her something about the law, she’d help them out, look it up. Or she’d draw up a deed or do a will," John Merrill said. Many of the attorneys who practiced with Merrill have since passed away. Ruth Gulick, a New Hampton attorney admitted to the NH Bar in 1982, relied on Merrill for legal advice and as a sort of mentor. Gulick said that one of the things she loved most about Merrill was her attitude about working in a male-dominated vocation, having been one of the first women to do so. "She said she never had a problem being female in a predominantly male profession," Gulick said. "She didn’t let negative thoughts about it enter her head. She didn’t expect any problems, so there weren’t any. She expected (male attorneys) would be decent, treat her well, so they did." Gulick described Merrill as cheerful, giving and having a "sunny disposition." "She was the kind of person you wanted to be around," she said. Merrill lived most of her life in New Hampton and was a member of its garden club, a charter member of its historical society and a 72-year member of the New Hampton Grange. She also served as clerk of the New Hampton School District and as town and county clerk of the New Hampton and Grafton Republican parties. Merrill was a life member of the Audubon Society of NH—as well as a former treasurer and trustee—and a retired member of the American Birding Association, the Society for the Protection of NH Forests and the Science Center of NH. Her son described her as an "active birder" and said that after his father, Bernard, died in 1972, he and his mother took three cross-country camping trips, visiting all 48 contiguous states. John Merrill described his mother as a "loving" woman who "didn’t want to toot her own horn." Although they knew she held a law degree, he said, she never told them that it was a JD from Northeastern. Merrill said that he’ll miss his mother’s wise advice and counsel, especially when it came to legal matters. "I could always go ask Mother," he said. In memory of our colleague Pauline Merrill, the New Hampshire Bar Association’s Board of Governors has contributed to the New Hampshire Bar Foundation, 112 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301.
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