Suzanne Love Merryman, longtime CSX Railroad manager and supporter of historic preservation, dies

Jacques Kelly, Baltimore Sun
·3 min read

Suzanne Love Merryman, a longtime CSX Railroad manager and supporter of historic preservation, died of heart failure Jan. 10 at her West Towson home. She was 75.

Born in Baltimore and raised in Cockeysville, she was the daughter John Merryman Jr., a chemical engineer who worked on the Manhattan Project, and Dorothy Thomas Roberts. After her parents divorced, she was raised by her stepmother, Louise Ames Cockey.

She was a graduate of Roland Park Country School and earned a degree at Mercer College in Macon, Georgia.

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She joined the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and initially worked at its downtown Baltimore headquarters at Charles and Baltimore streets.

“Suzanne was exposed to many aspects of the railroad,” said her cousin, Merryman “Merry” Roszel Rogers. “She was a woman in a man’s world and she told me she did not feel appreciated. Nevertheless, she stayed with the railroad and rose through its ranks.

“When she had to move she did and served in Jacksonville, Florida, St. Louis and Cumberland,” said Ms. Rogers.

Ms. Merryman trained as a locomotive engineer and became a train master. She later worked in the casualty prevention department of what had become the CSX Railroad.

Her stepbrother, Christopher Cockey said: “She packed up and moved when the railroad told her to. She would be out on the scene when there was a derailment and she handled damaged shipment claims.”

She was a lifelong member of Cockeysville’s Sherwood Episcopal Church and assisted in its getting a $1.7 million grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The grant was for Sherwood’s Clean Water Project, an initiative designed to combat the effects of storm water runoff flowing down Sherwood Hill through the church’s campus,

In a 2023 Episcopal News story about the grant, she said, “For many years, Sherwood members tried to come up with a solution for the flooding issues without much success. In 2019, we formed the Property Initiative Team, and then during the pandemic, we had the time to really focus on the church property and consider ways to better support our community.”

In early 2021 she and her team met with representatives of Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake.

She oversaw a plan for 100 trees to be planted in the riparian zone and wetland habitat behind the church.

“Susie was a nonstop cheerleader,” said her pastor, the Rev. Nancy H. Hennessey, the church’s rector. “She kept her eye on the prize and did it gracefully and with integrity. I called her the Energizer Bunny. She was optimistic and forthright. If she had an issue, she came to you and told it like it is.

“She had the ability to collaborate with all ages,” said Rev. Hennessey. “She mentored with humility and with a sense of humor.”

Greg Sesek, the church director of music, said: “She was a fun person and zipped around in a little convertible. She gave most of her time to causes that were important to her. She rolled up her sleeves and worked.”

She was a past president of Historic Hampton, Inc., a group associated with the Hampton National Historic Site.

“She was a positive person who was the quite the historian,” said Scott B. Ensor, a longtime acquaintance. “I had many conversations with her about Cockeysville history and the town of Warren, which was flooded over for the Loch Raven Reservoir. She had grown up on Wight Avenue in Cockeysville and knew its history.”

She was a frequent swimmer at the Meadowbrook Swim Club, enjoyed long walks and kept a garden.

Ms. Merryman’s life will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Feb. 3 at Sherwood Episcopal Church at 5 Sherwood Road in Cockeysville.

Survivors include a niece, Dorothy Thomas Carter, of Glen Burnie; two nephews, John Merryman Kemp, of Hunt Valley, and Michael Alexis Merryman, of Connecticut; two stepbrothers, Timothy Cockey of New York City, and Christopher Cockey, of Manchester.