BEMIDJI — You certainly couldn’t blame Audrey Merschman if she slowed down a bit after turning 92 years old this summer. She has endured much loss recently, having to leave her home of 67 years and losing her husband, Kenny, who died in January. They were married for 71 years.
But Audrey can’t slow down. Fortunately, her longtime passion for painting keeps her busy.
“I was born with a lot of energy,” she said. “I’m trying to keep going, because Kenny would want me to straighten up and do what I can do. I’m trying to be a role model for my children. How we get old gracefully and die gracefully, hopefully that will be a role model, too.”
Now a resident of Sanford Health’s Windsong Senior Living, Audrey has turned one room into her art studio, although she prefers to paint while standing in front of her kitchen sink, where the lighting is better. In addition to painting pictures, she has illustrated books, designed greeting cards, and recently started painting on birch bark and rocks.
Among her biggest fans are her six children, 13 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren. She also has made quite an impression on her fellow Windsong residents.
“Audrey is just amazing,” said Andrea Daly, Windsong’s activity coordinator. “All the ladies at coffee, they’ll talk about her paintings and how beautiful they are. Everybody in here knows who Audrey is, and they just love her.”
And Audrey loves painting. She figures it was about 50 years ago when she first picked up a brush. “Just amateur stuff at first,” she said.
She is a self-taught artist.
“It wasn’t like you could go on a computer and look it up,” Audrey said. “You had to figure it out yourself. You’d see something in a magazine and find something you like. And I would paint it, just because I wanted to.”
What started as a hobby has become somewhat of a business for Audrey, who sells her work at a variety of local businesses, including Ruttger’s Birchmont Lodge.
Audrey Merschman started painting about 50 years ago and continues at age 92. In addition to painting pictures, she has illustrated books, designed greeting cards, and recently started painting on birch bark and rocks.
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“I never expected to make a dollar,” she said. “I did because I loved it, and I still love it. It gives me pleasure. And if I had to just paint and throw it in the garbage, I’d do that, then paint another one.”
It also gives her pleasure to see her paintings hanging in someone’s home.
“I’ve done a lot of portraits, mostly of my family,” she said. “I go to my children’s homes and of course, they’ve got plenty of my paintings. And if I go into somebody’s home and see one hanging there, it makes me happy, because they wouldn’t have to put them on the wall if they didn’t like them.”
Audrey figures she has made as much as $500 for one of her paintings, but she insists it’s not about the money.
“I never waited to get a big price on anything,” she said. “I always thought that if somebody really liked it, I’d rather just sell it and have them enjoy it.”
Dennis Doeden continues to write feature stories for the Bemidji Pioneer in his retirement, after serving as publisher from 2001 to 2019 and as a features reporter through 2025.