Roberta W. Myrick | Artist and volunteer, 76

Roberta W. Myrick, 76, of Mount Airy, an artist and a community volunteer, died of heart failure Dec. 10 at Mercy Suburban Hospital in East Norriton.

Since moving to the Philadelphia area in 1989, Mrs. Myrick had served on the boards of the Settlement Music School in Germantown, the Allens Lane Art Center, the Charles L. Blockson Collection Endowment Fund, and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Northeasterners Inc., a historic black women's social and civic club.

A talented artist, she created oil paintings inspired by musical compositions, said her daughter, Keris.

Mrs. Myrick grew up in New York City. She graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology there and earned a bachelor's degree from the city's Hunter College.

In 1955, she married Howard Myrick. They had met when she visited family in Jacksonville, Fla.

As the wife of a career Army officer, she raised a family on military bases in West Germany, South Korea, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Kansas.

While her two children were growing up, she taught in public and Sunday schools, designed and made clothing for herself and her daughter, and organized fashion shows.

She and her husband moved to Vienna, Va., when he retired from the Army in 1977, and she earned a broker's license and sold residential real estate. Mrs. Myrick and her husband moved to Philadelphia when he was appointed chairman of the department of broadcasting at Temple University.

In addition to her husband and daughter, she is survived by a son, Kyle; two brothers; and a sister.

A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. today at Bethlehem Baptist Church, 712 Penllyn Pike, Spring House, where friends may call after 9. Burial will be in Ivy Hill Cemetery.