Merry Hadden

Merry Hadden is an AMI 0–3 Trainer, Examiner, and Consultant whose Montessori journey spans more than five decades and carries a direct connection to the formative generations of Montessori education.

Her introduction to Montessori came in 1973 through a chance encounter with Mary Caroline, then an assistant at Austin Montessori School. Merry later visited her in Mexico during her training and interviewed with Mrs. Hanrath. Although life initially led Merry in another direction, the encounter marked the beginning of a vocation that would take her to India, Italy, and Montessori communities around the world.

Merry began her formal Montessori training in Calcutta, India, in 1976. She completed her AMI Primary training there in 1977 under Albert Max Joosten and M. M. Swamy, both of whom had trained with Maria and Mario Montessori. After three years of work in a Casa environment, she heard Dr. Silvana Quattrocchi Montanaro speak at a conference in Tarrytown, New York. The experience prompted her to travel to Rome and pursue the developing work of Montessori education from birth to age three.

In Rome, Merry joined the first AMI Assistants to Infancy training course. Her trainers included Dr. Montanaro and Gianna Gobbi, along with other educators who had worked within the early Montessori tradition. Dr. Montanaro had studied and worked with Adele Costa Gnocchi, while Gobbi had trained with Costa Gnocchi decades earlier. Through them, Merry entered a lineage extending directly to the pioneering work of Maria Montessori and the earliest development of the Assistants to Infancy approach. Following the Rome course, Merry also completed a three-month Montessori Foundation Course in Perugia with Antonietta Paolini, who had trained with Maria Montessori.

Merry founded Montessori at Roseborough, originally Montessori N.E.S.T., in Mount Dora, Florida, in 1983. Established to serve children and families in Central Florida, the school has grown to offer Montessori environments from infancy through adolescence. Merry continues to serve as its Executive Director, bringing together her experience as an educator, trainer, school founder, and community leader.

She holds AMI diplomas at both the Primary and Assistants to Infancy levels and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in business from Saint Leo College. She is also a certified infant massage instructor and childbirth educator, with training in Respiratory Autogenic Training for birth.

Merry’s work has included directing and supporting AMI courses, examining, consulting, speaking, writing, and presenting Montessori programs internationally. She has contributed to MINT’s Montessori Core Principles Course and has written on the development of independence during the first years of life. Her continued service to AMI includes participation in its work to preserve and deepen understanding of Montessori’s historical materials.

A particular focus of Merry’s work is helping adults understand the significance of life from conception through age three and the lasting influence of these earliest years. She is especially interested in supporting families and empowering adults from Indigenous communities through Montessori education.

Merry describes her own trainers as people of extraordinary dedication and joy. Her work continues their legacy through the preparation of new Montessori educators and an enduring commitment to the dignity, potential, and unfolding life of the young child.