Kathryn West Merrick; Lifelong County Resident

Kathryn Marie West Merrick of Camarillo, a lifelong Ventura County resident, died Friday following a long illness. She was 46.

West Merrick was born Jan. 13, 1950, in Ventura and attended Santa Clara Catholic School, Our Lady of the Assumption. She graduated from Ventura High School.

“She was an angel,” said her mother, Helen Kam Elliott of Ojai. Kam Elliott said her daughter enjoyed meeting new people through her jobs as a florist, answering service operator and home care attendant.

Most recently, West Merrick worked with her mother and sister, Patricia West of Ojai, at Carpet Club in Oxnard, the family’s business.

Kam Elliott said her daughter enjoyed doing crossword puzzles and watching films from Hollywood’s heyday on the American Movie Classics channel.

“She loved all of the old western movies, but her favorite was ‘Gone With the Wind,’ ” Kam Elliott said.

West Merrick also volunteered time persuading youths to avoid smoking, a habit that eventually led to her illness, her mother said.

In addition to her mother and sister, West Merrick is survived by her father, Frederick J. West of Missouri; three brothers, James West and Joe Elliott, both of Ojai, and Stanley West of Seattle, and longtime companion Joe Perez of Camarillo. She also leaves a son, Robert Merrick of Santa Paula, and a daughter, Christine Perez of Camarillo.

Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura.

In lieu of flowers, donations in West Merrick’s memory may be made to the intensive care unit at the Ventura County Medical Center, 3291 Loma Vista Road, Ventura.