AUDREY BARTLEY MERCHANT
January 15, 1944-September 10, 2022
Audrey Marie Bartley was born on January 15, 1944, in Morgan City, Louisiana. She was one of twelve children born to the late Frank Bartley Jr. and Hazel Smith Bartley.
Audrey was baptized at Mount Era Baptist Church in Morgan City, Louisiana. She graduated second in her 1962 class from Sumpter Williams High School.
Audrey was a member of the marching band, a majorette and a four-year starter on the basketball team.
She earned a bachelor of science degree from Dillard University and a master of arts degree from New York University.
After college, Audrey volunteered for two and one-half years in the Peace Corps. She was assigned to Portland, Jamaica. Even though her commitment to serve was only two years, she requested to serve an additional six months to complete a project. When she returned to the States, she worked for the Volunteers in Service to America in Washington, D.C.
Through a mutual friend, Avis Sykes in Jamaica, Audrey and Roland Samuel Merchant met, and that meeting led to more than fifty-two years of marriage. On
June 6, 1970, Audrey and Roland married at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, and to this union were born three children, Orelia Eleta, Roland Jr. and Huey Bartley Merchant.
Audrey was a member of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in San Jose, California, and First New Christian Fellowship Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California. At church, she served as a deaconess, Sunday School teacher and Vacation Bible School teacher.
Audrey taught school in Morgan City, Louisiana, and the city of New York prior to a cross country move to Los Angeles, California. While in California, she worked at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company for over twenty-five years, until retirement.
Audrey’s commitment and devotion to her husband and children were always her priority. To support her children, she attended school and extracurricular activities without fail. Baking was among the many things she was known for, often sending birthday cakes and cookies across states to her children and other family members.
Audrey was a great listener and a trusted confidant. She was reliable, dependable, loving, caring, and supportive. She put her faith into action, and she always sought out ways to help others, often without request. She embodied perseverance and refused to give up. Audrey believed that nothing beats a failure, but a try.
On September 10, 2022, at her earthly home in Toluca Lake, California, surrounded by the love of family, Audrey peacefully transitioned to her heavenly home.
She was preceded in death by: her parents, Frank and Hazel Bartley; three brothers, Huey Bartley, Melvin Bartley, and Herbert Bartley; two sisters, Jacqueline Bartley and Melinda Bartley Martin; parents-in-law, Samuel and Eleta McLymont Merchant; brothers-in-law, Arvel Marshall, Murphy G. Sanchez, Thornton Clark, Lawrence Martin, Benjamin Artist, Charles “Roy” Merchant, and Joseph A. Merchant; sisters-in-law, Brenda H. Bartley, Ivy Thomas, Joyce E. Merchant, and Julie Merchant Artist.
She leaves to cherish her contributions to this family: a loving and committed husband, Roland Samuel Merchant; devoted children, Orelia Merchant Camara (daughter) and Karim Camara (son-in-law), Roland Samuel Merchant Jr. (son) and Jennifer Anderson Merchant (daughter-in-law), and Huey Bartley Merchant (son) and Steven Artiga (son-in-law); five grandchildren, Karim Merchant Camara, Celia Marie Camara, Brendon B.C. Merchant, Eliana V. Artiga-Merchant and Gabriel M. Artiga-Merchant; sisters, Ruby B. Sanchez, Celia B. Clark, Gloria B. (Calhoun) Moultrie, Lorraine Bartley, and Laura B. Marshall; brother, Frank (Janice) Bartley III; other sister-in-law, Gertrude P. Bartley; “adopted son,” Shemar Franklin Moore; godchildren: Melvin Bartley Jr. and Briana Arnold Boyd; longtime caregiver Judith Sosing; and nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives and friends.