Margaret (Pat) Merchant Verhulst passed away Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at Smoky Ridge Health & Rehabilitation in Burnsville after a long period of declining health. She was born June 11, 1937 in Asheville to the late Lawrence and Norma Merchant. Pat received her formal education at St. Genevieve of the Pines and Lee Edwards (Asheville) High School, where she was graduated in 1955. She received her BA from Duke University; her MA from University of Illinois; and her PhD from University of Texas-Austin. She taught English literature and writing at Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey for three years before returning to her beloved North Carolina mountains to teach in the English Department at Mars Hill University from 1971 until 1998. Pat was a lifelong artist, poet, and scholar--but above all else, she was a teacher and a friend, eternally devoted to her students on every level. She is survived by her sister, Lynn Merchant Staton; and her nephews, Bruce Staton and Jason Staton.

In accordance with her wishes, private graveside services were held in Mars Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.

Pat asked that you honor her memory by making a donation to Mars Hill Baptist Church or Mars Hill University, P.O. 6792, Mars Hill, NC 28754 -- and by saying a prayer (or singing a song) on the bank of a favorite river or stream. In the last years of her life, she especially enjoyed listening to a recording of Joe Cocker as he sang, "The rose is blooming there for me, where the soul of man never dies...and I will spend eternity, where the soul of man never dies."

Online condolences may be sent to the family under her obituary at www.blueridgefuneralservices.org