DAVID WAYNE MERRITT JR.

David Wayne Merritt Jr., 6, of Cape Girardeau died Thursday, May 14, 1998, at Southeast Missouri Hospital of injuries sustained in an automobile accident earlier that day.

He was born May 28, 1991, in Carbondale, Ill., son of David Wayne Merritt of East Cape Girardeau, Ill., and JoAnn Harrison of Cape Girardeau. He was a first-grade student at a Cape Girardeau elementary school.

In addition to his parents, he is survived by a sister, Tiffany Merritt of Cape Girardeau; maternal grandparents, Tommy and Bonnie Cole of Kevil, Ky.; maternal great-grandparents, Martha and Jim Coker of Olive Branch, Ill.; paternal grandparents, Sue Merritt of East Cape Girardeau, and Byron W. Merritt of Alton, Ill.; paternal great-grandfather, Wardell Grace of Vienna, Ill.

Funeral will be held today at 2 p.m. at the Shelby Funeral Chapel in Charleston, with Carl Hestor officiating. Burial will follow in the Oak Grove Cemetery near Charleston.

Visitation was Saturday.