NORMAN EARL MERRITT
Norman Earl Merritt died November 14, 2001. He was born Dec. 29, 1905, the 11th of 13 children born to Samuel Alonzo and Mary Alice Miles Merritt. His education was at the Bedford Elementary school. Then he worked as a farm hand on a number of local farms. When in his later teens and early 20s he worked at Fontenelle, Wy for Jacob and Josephine Herschler. He returned to Bedford where he took up working on the family farm. He married Bessie Hale on Feb. 20 1932 at Afton. They were later sealed in the Logan UT Temple. They had six children, JoAnn, LaGrande, Claudette, Alonzo, Gilman and JH. He farmed most of his life, but did work for the power and light company for a number of years. When he retired from the power company he and Bessie went on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They served in the Delaware-Maryland Mission at Washington D.C. for 18 months. When they returned from a mission they logged out and built a new home to live in during the summers. They also built a home in Logan so that they could do temple work in the winters. When the Logan Temple was closed for refurbishing they moved on the St. George, Utah. They found weather more to their liking and remained there for the remainder of their lives. They worked in the temple in the winters and back to Bedford for the summers. Preceding him in death were his wife Bessie, his son Gilman, all of his brothers and sisters. He leaves the following children: JoAnn Hodges; LaGrande Merritt; Claudette Scott; Alonzo Merritt; and JH Merritt; 19 grandchildren, 49 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services for Norman Earl Merritt will be on Saturday Nov 17, 2001, at the Thayne 1st Ward Chapel at 12 noon. Viewing will be Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. at Schwab Mortuary. There will also be a viewing Saturday from 10:30 to 11:45 prior to the service