Merl Childers (Rousseau)

Graveside services for Merl Marie Childers (Rousseau), 84, are planned for 11:00 am December 19 at Oak Hill Cemetery. Merl died peacefully November 26, 2020 in Topeka.
Merl was born in Shattuck, OK in 1936. Raised in Belle Plaine, Kansas by Nettie and David Rousseau, she graduated High School in 1954. In 1955 she married James Childers. The family moved to Lawrence in 1957.
Active in the Presbyterian Church, Merl worked as a school and city bus driver and trainer. She also opened the Childers home to foster children for many years.
Merl is survived by three sons and their wives, James David Childers, Lawrence, John Childers, Lawrence, and Leonard Childers, Eagle Point, Oregon, a favorite foster son, Jay Blalock, Tulsa and other foster children, seven grandchildren and twelve great¬grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by husband, James, brothers John, Chester, Alfred, and Buck, sister Lucy Hernandez, granddaughter Vanessa and great-granddaughter Alexis.