Merit Ellen Crum Arnold passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Wilkinson County Senior Care in Centreville, Mississippi. She was born in Crosby, MS on November 21, 1932 to Tom and Zora Crum and graduated Crosby High School in 1949. Upon graduation she began working for the telephone company as an operator in Baton Rouge. She married Lane Arnold and quickly made their home in Crosby on the road named after her father. She then worked at Carter's manufacturing where she retired.

She enjoyed gardening, canning, preserving, berry picking and spending time in the kitchen cooking for those she loved. A member of Mars Hill Church in Crosby and Hopewell Methodist Church in Crosby, she believed that cooking was her ministry and was often known to feed her pastors a meal in between Sunday school and the sermons. If you visited her home you were sure to never leave hungry or empty handed. She enjoyed riding backroads and spending time in the country, often driving aimlessly after Sunday dinner and was known to drop in to visit friends or relatives along the way. She was a loving mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother with a witty sense of humor and will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

She is survived by her children, Thomas Leroy Arnold (Becki) and Ellen Delane Longmire (Reid); her three grandchildren, Ellen Golden (Jesse), Kayla Arnold (Chase), Kelly Ivy (Jason); 5 great grand-children; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She is proceeded in death by her loving husband of 49 years Lane Arnold, her parents Tom and Zora Haney Crum, step-mother Merritt Haney Crum; sister Narvelle Courtney, five brothers, Purvis, Silas, Jessie, Jack and David.

The family wants to express eternal gratitude to all who cared for her through her life, and especially those who treated her with loving kindness in her final days.

Visitation is Sunday April 13, 2025 at Brown Funeral Home in Gloster, Mississippi, from 5:00 P.M. until 8:00 P.M. Visitation Monday is from 10:00 A.M. until time of funeral services at 11:00 A.M. at Brown Funeral Home, officiated by Rev. Warren Whitaker.

Interment will follow in Hopewell Cemetery.