Meryl Mae Holley Lawlis

Meryl Mae Holley Lawlis (nee Sontz) loved Barbie and Metallica. And if that contradiction wasn’t enough, she would find another way to make you laugh. “She was one of a kind,” her brother Joseph Sontz said. “She lived life according to her rules and she was loved for that.” Meryl, 68, died of complications from cancer in her Houston, Texas home Saturday, October 5, 2024. Born in Lynn, Massachusetts on August 19, 1956, the youngest daughter of Edith and Hyman Sontz, Meryl graduated in 1974 from Marblehead High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in food marketing economics at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and an MBA at Suffolk University. Urged by a friend already living in Texas, she moved to Houston in 1980 to work for Kraft Inc. where she promoted cheese, dressings, and dinners, assembled award-winning merchandise displays, and met her first husband, William Jay Holley. The couple married in 1982. But less than 10 months later, Jay was killed in a car accident on the way to a company picnic. That didn’t stop Meryl from continuing to build a life of her own in Houston. Her optimism and sense of humor propelled her forward in both her career and relationships. “She did not let all the hardships change who she was,” said her friend Michelle Parsons. “That was something she brought to other people. She brought light into a room if there was sorrow.” In 1996, Meryl started making sales calls to Susie Eshet, the new executive vice president of a food distribution company. When Susie mentioned that she would be taking time off for the High Holidays, Meryl made her recite the Hebrew blessing over wine to prove she was Jewish. Susie was taken aback by her audacity and over the next 28 years, the two women became the best of friends. Susie soon learned Meryl possessed a tremendous work ethic, always studying up on the wines and foods she promoted and going above and beyond to sell them. But she also loved to sleep long hours, often starting her days at noon. The contradictions didn’t stop there. Even though she sold cheeses and dressings, wine and hors d’ oeuvres, she really loved candy and sweets. Neighborhood children knew to go to her house first on Halloween. And occasionally step-grandchildren children who spent the night woke up to gourmet cupcakes for breakfast. Her sister, Linda, remembers when Meryl would come to visit their home on Martha’s Vineyard, she would always buy a batch of fudge from a local shop to eat for breakfast. Meanwhile back at home, she would fill neighbors’ fridges, freezers and tables with samples of the many provisions she sold. Meryl also joined Linda and her family for vacations. Meryl’s nephews, Howard and Dan Pashman, often fought over who would get to share a room with Auntie Meryl. “She could be 6 or 60 depending on who she was with,” her sister said. “She could play make-believe with the kids or sit with the grownups. With the kids, she always found ways to relate to them.” Girls in her family often benefited from Meryl’s vast collection of Barbies, which had a room of their own even when she was a young girl. At one point, she owned more than 700 dolls, occupying multiple rooms. Boys in the family enjoyed her love of sports cars and heavy metal music. Dressed in pink and sparkles (which she pronounced spahkles in her Boston accent), she always stood out among her fellow heavy metal fans. In 1999, Meryl accompanied Susie and her mother to an antiques auction. The auctioneer’s thick Texas drawl caught Meryl’s ear, and she began raising her paddle in hopes of catching his eye. She bid on furniture she had no room for at home in hopes that the auctioneer, Michael Lawlis, would deliver it himself. When his son, Phillip, delivered it instead, she let him know the meal she had prepared was not for him. Michael eventually got the message. "She could read me better than anybody ever has," Michael said. Michael and Meryl lived together for 25 years before getting married on September 27, 2024 under a chuppah in Houston Methodist Hospital’s intensive care unit. Susie served as the couple’s wedding coordinator. “Meryl had a way with my dad that I had never seen,” Phillip said. “When he was getting fired up, she would just look at him and start laughing at him and say something off the wall and then you could see whatever he was upset about just left his face. He would be laughing at her. It was good to be around.” Meryl also had a way with dogs. The couple rescued at least six of them from shelters – often pit bulls. “She was always looking for a reason that we might end up getting another dog. We foster-failed a couple times,” Michael said, meaning they adopted those dogs too. Meryl is survived by her husband, Michael; stepsons, Michael Jr., Dale, Phillip, Daniel and Josh (Amanda); sister, Linda Pashman (Louis); brother, Joseph Sontz (Risa); nieces, Jennifer Sontz and Carrie Moskowitz (Seth); nephews, Howard Pashman (Manya) and Dan Pashman (Janie); three grand nieces and two grand nephews; 20 step-grandchildren; four step-great grandchildren; three dogs, Chloe, Casper and Sancha; and many devoted friends. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Big Love Rescue, www.bigloverescue.org, a Houston nonprofit that rescues and rehomes lost or abandoned dogs. A graveside service took place on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at 2:00 PM at Emanu El Memorial Park, 8341 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas 77074.

Meryl Mae Holley Lawlis

August 19, 1956 - October 5, 2024