Virginia Blanks Lee Merker

Mrs. Virginia Blanks Lee Merker, 75, of Lake City, passed away on Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the North Florida Regional Medical Center in Gainesville after a sudden illness. She was born in Homerville, Georgia on April 25, 1944 to the late Robert Ernest and Mary Easter Jordan Blanks. She has made Lake City her home most of her life and worked for the Southern Bell & Bell South Company as a Information Operator for over 30 years. She was a 1962 graduate of Columbia High School and in her spare time, she enjoyed fishing, driving her John Deere Tractor, camping, gardening and tending to her cows. Mrs. Merker also loved to be a care taker to people, feeding them whenever she got the chance and loved canning. She was of the Baptist faith. She is preceded in death by her first husband, Tommy Aubrey Lee, Sr.; and her brothers, Vernon and Oedis Blanks.

She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Klaus Merker of Lake City; son, Tommy Lee (Lisa) of Lake City; daughters, Paula Marie Lee Kinchen (Larry) and Mary Elizabeth Lee Couey (Kevin) both of Lake City; her sister and twin sister, Versie Dancy (the late Noah Dancy) of Lake City and Vivian Jones (Bobby) of Cairo, GA; brother, Marion “Butch” Blanks of Lake City; sister-in-law, Polly Blanks of Lake City. Four grandchildren, Rusty Kinchen (Keri), Nikolai Alexander Lee (Marissa), Kyle Aubrey Couey and Kristah Elizabeth Couey Adam (Tyler) all of Lake City along with many extended family members and friends also survive.

Funeral services for Mrs. Merker will be conducted on Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 4:00 P.M. in the Gateway-Forest Lawn Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1:00-3:00 P.M. prior to the services. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations please be considered to Haven Hospice, 6037 W US Highway 90, Lake City, FL 32055. 

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