Sometime in the 1990s Merle joined Eckankar, a relatively new religion that appears to be a synthesis of others along with its own new ideas. It uses music to a large degree and like ancient religions, including early Christianity, it emphasizes the importance of dreams. It is a firm supporter of reincarnation.

Merle became an active member of their Toronto chapter and made a number of trips to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where they hold their conferences. She always came home happy.

Throughout her last years, I used to wonder at her ability to accept the suffering being imposed on her by rheumatoid arthritis and its accompanying lung disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer's. She almost never complained about her lot. But I'm convinced that a lot of that patience and endurance came from Eckankar.

Merle Kathleen Enston, was born Merle Kathleen Kelly on July 18, 1941 in Trinidad and Tobago. I met her on September 12, 1969, my birthday. Years later examining her old passports, we discovered that she left Trinidad for Canada on September 12, 1967, exactly two years earlier. It seems that we were intended to meet. After a long troubling illness that began with the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in 2010, then Alzheimer's in 2015, we had to part again, after 52 years, on June 22, 2021, 4:05 pm.

Merle was cremated, as per her wishes. Besides myself, her vibrant and adventuresome spirit will be remembered and loved by daughters Natalie, Kelly, and Lesley, and many others. A small family memorial will be held shortly.

Merle and New York

The tribute of our niece Lauren where she comments on her aunt's skill at finding the best pastry and coffee outlets, reminded me of her lifelong attachment to New York City and Brooklyn, for that is where most of her coffee/pastry and hidden away restaurants were to be found.

This was apparent from the beginning. Her Trinidad passport shows her leaving for Canada on Sept 12/1967, but she didn't arrive until Sept 20. Where was she in those 8 days? - in New York according to her brother Carlisle Kelly - her first ever visit to that city.

Once I met Merle, I quickly learned that my chief competitor for her love was New York.

When I had only known her for a few months, on a trip to New York she managed to get a job. We exchanged letters, me trying to get her back. Finally I persuaded her to make a trip up to Toronto. But it was a short visit and I soon had to drive her to the airport, feeling pessimistic that I would ever see her again.

But when I got home, she called me, still at the airport. A US immigration rep interviewing her suspected that she was returning to a job that she didn't have a visa for, and refused to let her on the plane. When I returned to the airport to pick her up she wasn't very happy, and I respected her mood, but secretly I was elated.

I've crossed that border many times myself since, and I've had difficulty sometimes with the  immigration people, but I always remind myself that it was one of them who brought Merle back to me.