Taken from Doris Martin Welch bio, "My Saga" published in 2007:
C. MELVIN MERRILL was born May 18, 1924 in Wamego, Kansas
Newspaper articles among Dad’s items included a few listing him (Dad) as Marshall of the Day for the 1923 and 1924 Memorial Day Patriotic Program; as playing in the Wamego City Band for the football games, parades, benefit shows, and Sunday concerts in the park (instrument not named); as heading the scouting program in Wamego, and as being a Worthy Patron of the Wamego Masonic Lodge.

With Merrill’s birth, Mother and Dad now had four little boys, when they did so want a little girl this time. However, Merrill was such a sweet little boy, they would not exchange him in a million years for a girl. He was a little fellow nicknamed “peanut”, but he laughed off any insults with “Best things come in little packages.”

He and I were the best of buddies all through our childhood-where he went, I thought I should go, and never did understand why I couldn’t go camping with him and his buddies. We were very competitive and enjoyed having the whole neighborhood over to our house for all manner of fun-games, swimming in the lake behind us, playing under the big oaks by the lake, etc.

When he was about 7 and we were living at the Wetmore place (on the east Twin Lake), we were eating oatmeal for breakfast one morning and Dad, after dishing oatmeal for everyone, set the big hot pot on the floor between his and Merrill’s chair. Merrill, who always sat on his feet, finished his breakfast, and got up, landing his bare foot right into that hot oatmeal, getting a bad burn.

When he was about 8, we were all down town celebrating the 4th of July Armistice and a boy threw a firecracker at Merrill. He ran to escape it, right into the path of a car. He was hit, but recovered at home from his bruises and scratches. It sure did scare us, though.

Merrill was always playing tricks on us and building things: his little hut in the back yard with built-in bunk beds and work bench, wired to shock us; his little boxes supposedly built to contain a mongoose, but shocked us when we put our hands inside to feel it; once he and his friend, Darold Cherry rigged up a system for the lake. They filled one bucket with sand to hold you down as you walked along the bottom of the lake, and another to put over your head (this had a hole in it with a hose attached. At the end of the hose was a pump.) When you ran out of air, you were to pull on the hose and someone on the dock would pump air to you. Of course, I was chosen to try it out-only, they didn’t pump air when I needed it, and I dropped the sand bucket and came up quickly for air, yelling at them when I got my breath.

Merrill was a real homebody, unlike Gayln who was never home. He and I had the jobs of washing and drying dishes, when he always managed to pop me with the doubled up towel; cutting firewood and bringing it into the house-once I was squatting while watching him split some kindling when he missed the wood and hit my knee (I still carry a scar from that). He also did yard work; helped Dad put up fences and make repairs to the house, shop, etc. He and I had the job of going to the neighbor’s grove, digging out grass, putting it in our wagon, and hauling it home to plant in our yard.

One of Merrill’s jobs was getting meat scraps from the town meat markets. The meat markets had a sawdust floor, and when the butcher cut the meats off for the customers, he tossed the fat and scraps into a box in the corner. Sometimes it landed in the box, sometimes it didn’t. Merrill’s job was to go to the markets every Tuesday and Friday, get the meat scraps in and around the boxes, and bring them home. Mother would take the fat, boil it down in the big wash pot in the back yard (used for canning or boiling really dirty clothes with lye), mix ashes and lye with it, and make lye soap (a brown-orange color that stunk to high heaven). Then on Saturday nights, we were all scrubbed down with this soap. It got you clean, but if you were also brushed with it (as the bottoms of our feet were), it made you raw. Mother then used the bones for stew or soup. With the good meat, she made hash, or ground it and mixed it with pickles and mayonnaise for sandwiches.

When the folks bought a cow, it was Merrill’s job to milk her in the morning and evening-a job he did not relish at all, as he was afraid of the cow and she knew it. Once he was taking the cow to tie her out with a rope when she started after him, running up to him, throwing her hip against the side of him, sending him reeling. From that time on, he was leery of cows. When it was time for her annual breeding, he had to take her about seven miles across town and over the railroad tracks. He was afraid all the way there and all the way back.

Once Merrill disobeyed when he and Dad were in the backfield. Dad started whipping him, and he started yelling at the top of his lungs. Mother usually did not interfere when Dad punished us, but this time she feared he had gone too far, so when it continued, she rushed back there and intervened. I think even Dad was a little frightened that he had gotten so carried away, and I don’t remember his ever spanking us after that. He and Mother had an agreement: she was to handle us girls and he would correct the boys, which they followed most of the time.

Merrill dated my girl friend, Elaine Robels, and I dated his friend, Darold Cherry. We didn’t do much on our dates - just walk around, skate, swim, play games, ride bikes, etc. Elaine really liked Cecil Lewis better than Merrill, but Merrill figured second-fiddle was better than none. Once Merrill thought it would be neat to have curly hair like Dad’s, so Elaine and I volunteered to accommodate him, and talked Darold into letting us experiment on him too. Merrill had a “cowlick” right in the front, which he tried to comb his hair around and paste it down. Elaine and I got out Mother’s waving lotion, some combs, and rollers. We tucked the guys’ hair into the curlers and they looked so funny, we had to laugh. At this, Darold started pulling his rollers out, but Merrill decided to go all the way through with the magic treatment. He slept overnight (or at least, tried to), dreaming of waking to beautiful hair. The next morning I undid the rollers, and I could not keep a straight face-he looked like he had had an electric shock treatment-hair standing on end in every direction. No matter how I combed it, it just would not cooperate. He was so disappointed. He put his head under water to wet it down good and tried combing the kinks out. Well, it took days before his “cowlick” would go right, not to mention the rest of his hair. I’m sure his friends wondered what had happened to him, and I’m sure he wasn’t telling, as in those days perms for men were unheard of.

Once when we were camping, Merrill and I spotted a wild turkey. We chased that turkey all through the woods, but never did catch it. We loved collecting wild flowers to decorate our camp table with. When I was about 12 and he 14, I was taller than him (he hated the picture which revealed this.) Mother said she thought Merrill didn’t get enough rest to grow-he stayed awake nights trying to think of tricks to play on us girls, or ways to tease us.

When Merrill turned 17 in 1941, he went down to join the Navy, only to be told he did not weigh enough-115 lbs. He came home and began stuffing himself with avocados and mayonnaise, jumping on the scales every day to see if he had reached the goal. One day, he thought he had made it and so was off to sign up. However, when he got on their scales, it said 113. The recruiter felt sorry for him and told him since he had tried so hard; he was going to give him the 2 lbs needed. Thus, Merrill joined the Navy on August 28, 1941. He had not yet finished his high school education, so took the needed courses from the Scranton International Correspondence School, got leave from the Navy, and received his diploma with his graduating class in June 1942.

Merrill spent much of his time at the Assembly and Repair Department of the Jacksonville Air Base. He completed four electrical schools there and three others in Cleveland, Newark, and Memphis. Since much of his time was spent in Jacksonville, we were elated, for even though he was to stay within an 80-mile radius of the base, he would travel home on weekends on his motorcycle. I would stay awake until 2-3 in the morning waiting to hear his bike pull into our driveway. Once when returning to the base, he had an accident and his bike threw him into a field, ruining the bike. He never did return to claim it and that about cured him of wanting to ride one again. I think he always felt a little jealous of Gayln (join the Navy to see the world) who was going to all kinds of places, and he was stuck in the states.

Because of his high scholastic scores on Naval tests, he was admitted to the NROTC program at Rice Institute in Houston where he studied for 2½ years (he completed 3½ years of work with no breaks) towards an Ensign’s commission as an Electrical Engineer. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering (1945), became a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and also a BS in Naval Science and Tactics from Rice. (Merrill served on the Executive Council of the Baptist Student Union while there.) He was sent from Rice to San Diego, and then back to Memphis to the FAF Fighter School to learn about the FAF Night Fighter, from there to flight school for six months, where he got his Lt. commission and became a pilot. He left there and went to North Island in San Diego, still learning about flying, but then got orders to go to Honolulu. The Navy then sent for him and told him to report to the Flag Outfit at Patuxent River Base (VRJ1) to a transport plane, flying big shots: Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations, Chester Nimitz, Bull Halsey, Ernest King, Marc Mitcher, Ben Morrell, Black Jack Reeves, Gen. Vandergrift (USMC), and Secretary of the Navy Forrestal. There were three transport planes, all very plush. He enjoyed this good duty and stayed there until his discharge in June 1947. Roy and I at this time were living in Maryland, and Merrill would visit us on weekends. In 1946, we all drove to Florida for Christmas.

After Merrill’s discharge, he returned to Lake Wales and got a job as service manager with Jimmy Thornhill at General Electric. Here he met and courted LUCILLE PUCCARELLI, the music director of the First Baptist Church. He and four others formed the L.W. Aero Club, buying a rebuilt Aeronca Chief plane (Roy Chastain was a member and treasurer).
Lucille’s father was a Baptist minister and she had spent much of her childhood in Birmingham, received an AB degree from Judson College in Marion, Ala. and continued studying music at the Baptist Seminary in New Orleans. Merrill proposed to Lucille, she accepted, and they were married in Bell, CA on August 8, 1949 by her father. Merrill got a job as service manager of the General Electric Service Dept. in Los Angeles, which was their repair division for the entire west coast. Merrill was called back into the Navy from inactive reserve at the outbreak of the Korean conflict, and served from Oct. 1950 to Feb ’53. (For about a year while Merrill was away, Lucille was hired by the L.W. Baptist church and lived with my folks.) He was sent to Rhode Island and put in a Fighter Squadron, served in VF74, in F4U fighters. He served most of his 1½ year hitch on the USS Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier in the Mediterranean. He was rewarded by the Navy with the opportunity to sail around the world seeing Rome (had an audience with Pope Pius at Vatican City), Naples, Corinth, Athens (he performed for King Paul and Queen Frederica, doing aerial maneuvers and simulated battles), Malta, Palermo, Sicily, Cannes, France, Grasse, Nice (met Prince Rainier of Monaco who took him through the casino and showed off his gold theatre, gaming tables, etc.). He also visited Monte Carlo, Oran, North Africa, Guantanamo Bay, etc., many places having a direct bearing on his religious education. A French squadron took his squadron’s place aboard the carrier Roosevelt. After staying on board a ship about 7 months, he returned to the states and to Rhode Island, flying there about three more months. His squadron was transferred to Jacksonville for about three weeks, and then left to board the Wasp, going through the Mediterranean and down to Guantanamo Bay, Panama, Jamaica, returning to Norfolk, disembarking and returning back to R.I. During this time (October 51 -Feb 53) as a naval aviator, he obtained the rank of Lt. Commander.

After his discharge they returned to Ft. Worth where Merrill finished his degree (Master of Religious Education) at the School of Religious Education, Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary. While here, Merrill served as Youth Director and S.S. Supt. at the Avenue “J” Baptist church.

He was called to a church in Miami (the Stanton Memorial Baptist Church) as the director of religious education. Larry was born while there. After being here from Aug. 1952 to Aug. 1953, he accepted a position as Educational Director at the Seminole Heights Baptist Church in Tampa, served here for a year and a half (to June 1954), then on to the North Park Baptist Church in Orlando. He was here about four years until June 1957 when the pastor, Paul Carmichael, left to go to the Palm Avenue Church in Tampa, where Merrill joined him. Merrill was at this church for about four years when Spencer Memorial Baptist church called him (1959) and he served with them for four years. Merrill did some graduate work while here at the University of South Florida, left the church position and started selling life insurance with Gulf Life Insurance Co. and the United Trust Life Ins. Co. (Nov. 1964). In Nov. 1965, he opened toy stores in Pinellas Park and Bartow.

Paul Carmichael took a church in St. Augustine, the Ancient City Baptist Church and wanted Merrill to join him. Merrill accepted the position in August 1966, and served there about seven years, resigning when he felt the church was getting too liberal. While here, he was on the Board of Trustees of the St. John’s River Community College for four years; served on the state Board of Missions of the Fla. Baptist Convention for five years. Merrill thus served as Educational Director for about 20 years. Over many of their married years, Lucille has taught school or music, assisted or served as Music Director in the various churches.
His club memberships included: Civitan in Orlando, Rotary in St. Augustine, National Tour Association (19 yrs), American Bus Association (12 yrs) and Florida Bus Association (1 yr). He was a Scoutmaster in Lake Wales for eight years.

In about 1983, when Merrill, Lucille, Jr. and Mildred were all at the forest, Merrill woke up in the middle of the night with terrific pain-much like a band tightening across his chest. He could stand it no longer, so awoke Jr. who took him to the hospital. Merrill was having his first heart attack (age 59). (He later had several more, underwent a heart by-pass operation, and continued on heart medications until his death.)

Merrill went to work at the Old Jail as Marketing and PR director. He stayed here until May 1984 (11 years). The tourist attraction across the street from the Old Jail, called Sightseeing Trains, was sold to Vic Tebault. He wanted Merrill to be his director of Marketing and PR, so two weeks later, Merrill joined his staff. He was in that role for eight years until his retirement April 31, 1992. Merrill then developed his own company as Director of Marketing of St. Augustine, advertising its attractions and accommodations to travel agencies in Florida and Georgia. Merrill had all the attractions signed up except two: The Alligator Farm, and Marineland, with seven motel properties and one campground. He and Lucille built a lovely home in Ocala. Things went well until Merrill was in an auto wreck near Apopka. He had an operation on his left arm, but when he had to start traveling distances, he found it difficult to hold his arms up to steer and had to give this job up.

For years, every Friday evening he would drive from St. Augustine to Ocala to work a stand at the Ocala Flea Market on Hwy 27 just outside the city, on Saturday and Sunday where he sold candies (which he bought cheaply from dept. and drug stores after Easter and Christmas) and veterinary supplies (bought by Lucille’s brother-in-law, Ted from a veterinarian at discount prices). Ted drove over from Tampa on Saturdays to help at the stand. They both made quite a bit of money and enjoyed the pastime.

Merrill was always looking for ways to get rich, and fell for various scams: EOPT or Old Ages, Energy Optics, KUPT (maker of portable paper cups), UBC out of W. Palm Beach (Chris and Dale also fell for this), the Ostrich Farm, etc. He talked me into a couple of investments (I lost about $2,000)—I am sure Merrill must have lost quite a bit more than this.

After Merrill retired from all his jobs, he enjoyed going to University of Florida games with Larry and his sons, working in the church at various jobs, reading, and taking in plays, games, or other amusements. In 1995 he went back to Houston for a 50-year Rice anniversary with three old school mates. In 2002 all Merrill’s family went to Europe and revisited many WW I, and WW II sites (Verdun, Paris, Normandy).

Lucille had fluid in her lungs and heart problems in Nov. 2001, but is much improved. She continued to teach school part-time for years, and is still very active in her church.

On May 7, 2005, Merrill suffered a massive stroke and was in a coma until his death May 12. On May 16th, he had a lovely 11:00 A.M. funeral in the Ocala Downtown Baptist church with his good friend of many years, Rev. Carmichael, delivering the eulogy. He had a beautiful military interment in the Veterans Cemetery in Bushnell at 1:00 P.M. How we miss him—my dear friend and close brother all these years.

In 2006 Lucille and the family donated a football scholarship to the U. of Fla. in Merrill’s name. The University reciprocated by inviting them to attend the “Gala Black Tie” dinner for the University’s 100th football year.

MERRILL’S TALES: Merrill always had a tale to tell and so here are a few:

1) Jr., Gayln, and Merrill were once camped on Storm Island, an island on the big Kissimmee River in central Florida. They were in the tent and Merrill was looking out the flap when he saw a big orange ball rising up over the lake. He thought it was a fireball, and he excitedly called Gayln to see the spectacle. Gayln said, “How about that?” They thought it was coming right over the tent, when, actually it was just getting higher into the air. After it started getting further and further away, Gayln said, “Hey, that’s that thing they were flying into the air from Cape Canaveral.” As it turned out, it was the first space flight made from Cape Canaveral (Kennedy) for the United States.

2) Once Jr. and Merrill were camping on Storm Island when a huge storm came up. Their motor had conked out when they got to the island, and here they were way up on the north end of the lake by themselves, with no-one else camping anywhere near-just a little barren island. Well, they pitched their tent and wondered how they were ever going to get off the island, when they saw a boat approaching in the pouring rain. There was someone hunched over in the boat, which rowed up toward the shore and turned in into the big grass bed between the tent and the lake. He started coming right into the area where the tent was, and Merrill told Jr. he was going to go wave that guy down and tell him they were in trouble. As the guy neared, Merrill exclaimed excitedly: “Hey, Jr., that’s Gayln rowing up here.” Gayln said he had seen someone up in there and was wondering what they were doing in there in all that rain. He towed them all the way back across Lake Kissimmee to Grape Hammock.

3) Another time Jr. and Merrill were out rabbit hunting with their carbide lamps on their heads. The lamps consisted of three layers-one being a metal layer which would block out everything, then under that was a glass layer with a real thick lens that brought your carbide light to a spot, and the last layer was just a clear glass where you could just see around you. They had stopped for a call of nature, and Merrill looked up the road and said, “Hey, Jr., there’s a light up there.” This was at the far end of the road on a hill. That light, about three inches wide, went right across the road very slowly and disappeared after a while. In about a minute, it went back across in the same direction, which meant it had to go all the way around something. About 45 seconds later, it came across again. It did that about 15-20 times, same light, no rays-just a round light, in the same direction. Jr. said, “Let’s go up toward it.” So they approached that direction and as they got closer, it went further away, so that instead of being on the top of the hill, it was down in the valley. Finally, Jr. said, “I’m going to shoot at it.” Merrill said, “You have my permission.” So, Jr. raised up his shotgun and got the light right in the middle of his aim when the light stopped in the middle of the road and split, one light going to the right, the other to the left. They never did see it any more after that. That remains a mystery to this day.

4) One time Dad, Jr., Gayln, and Merrill were all out rabbit hunting in the grove on a very dark night. Dad and Gayln went on one edge of the grove all the way through the grove, and Jr. and Merrill went on the other edge of the grove all the way through the grove. When they walked through a row, they went right to left looking for rabbits with their carbide lights on each of their heads. As Jr. and Merrill got through the grove, there was a wide clearing at the edge of the grove before the swamp and heavily wooded area. Lying right in that clearing about 50 ft. from them was a black panther on his haunches, looking at them with his big orange eyes. Jr. said, “Merrill, you’re going to have to go back to the camp and find Daddy and get some more shells. I’ve only got one left.” Merrill said, “Oh, no-not me!” Jr. said, “Well, what are we going to do then?” Merrill replied, “I don’t know what we are going to do, but whatever you do, I am going to do too.” Jr. said, “Do you think I should shoot?” Merrill replied, “Well, I don’t care what you do, but I am with you whatever it is.” Jr. had a single barrel shotgun and you had to raise the barrel up to fire it to make it work.” He fired that thing and it made a big blast, stirring up a lot of dirt and dust into the air, and all of a sudden, there was no panther there. Jr. and Merrill high-tailed it through the grove, found Daddy, and told him. Dad said, “Let’s go get in the car because a panther remembers, and he will track you for days on end to try to get you.” Needless to say, the four of them got out of that area real fast.

5) One night Dad, Jr., Nolan, Gayln, and Merrill were all out alligator hunting, which was legal in those days, and after getting quite a few, cleaned them and put the meat away (the family enjoyed their tails which were most delicious.) Dad decided to hunt for a few rabbits and Gayln decided to go with him around the lake, which was quite large and surrounded by woods. Jr., Nolan, and Merrill stayed at the campfire on the side of the lake. Dad and Gayln were about halfway around the lake when the boys all heard this terrible scream-sounding like a woman. Jr., Nolan, and Merrill jumped in the car, rolled up all the windows, and stayed there, hot and sweaty, for it seemed, an eternity. They just knew that whatever that scream was, it had gotten Daddy and Gayln. About two hours later, Dad and Gayln finally returned-they couldn’t be seen as it was so heavily wooded-much to their relief. The three boys got out of the car and asked Dad what happened. He replied, “Well, we saw this panther ahead of us in the crotch of a tree, looking us over. It finally turned around and went back down on the back side of the tree, crossed out from the shadow of the tree, and we didn’t know where it went.” About 15 minutes after that Gayln said, “Daddy, I feel there’s something behind me-give me a light around here.” Dad replied, “Aw, be quiet, son, it’s just your imagination.” Gayln said, “Daddy, please turn your light over here.” (He didn’t have a light of his own.) So Daddy swung his light around Gayln and here was that panther right behind them.” When that light hit him, it frightened him, causing him to scream and he then jumped off the side of the path into the thick woods again. Daddy said all the way back, Gayln was practically walking in his shoes, he was so close to him.

6) On one of Merrill’s last weekends before going into the Navy, Mother, Dad, Merrill and us girls had all been out camping at Shell Hammock by Kissimmee Lake, and were returning to Lake Wales for more supplies. We were coming down this little 2-rutted dirt road when Merrill spying something running down one of the ruts, jumped out of the car. It was a small alligator. The alligator swerved off the roadway toward a ditch that had water in it. Merrill knew if he got in there, he was gone, so he made a dive for him, grabbing him by the tail, and holding him up, whereupon the alligator swung up and bit his wrist. Merrill yanked him loose, then jumped down on top of him and caught him back of his neck. He then teased us girls with him all the way home. Laveda remembers sitting up on the armrest of the back seat, as far away as possible. When home, he put him in the bathtub with some meat in there for him to eat. We had to go back to the camp to finish our 3-4 days camping trip. When we returned home again, the alligator was still in the tub. Mother made Merrill move him, so he built a pen for him in the back yard, however the alligator managed to escape-we figured he made his way to the lake behind our home.

7) My brothers often caught alligators on the lakes. Their method consisted of taking the boat out onto the lake and when they saw an alligator, they would get behind the boat and push it sideways in order to keep it between them and the alligator, so he could not see them. When about 50 ft. from the gator, they would ease down to the bottom of the lake, crawl along the bottom until they got right under the gator, then come right straight up under him and push him out of the water. That way he couldn’t bite them, nor use his tail to hit them. They would catch them, play with them a little, and then let them go.

8) Dad and Merrill were out running a trout line when this huge turtle was on the line. They put him in the boat, and the hook came out of his mouth-they usually tied the trout line to the side of the boat on a nail. The turtle came down Merrill’s way and he was on the side of the boat trying to get out of its way. It turned Once around and went down towards Daddy, then back Merrill’s way, and over the side of the boat. Merrill thereupon dove in after him and got him-he didn’t want to let that big hunk of meat go. Dad reprimanded him for taking such a chance. Mother made delicious fried turtle and soup after parboiling in salt water.

9) Merrill had a very good friend and only child whom he grew up with named Johnny Brown (his Dad worked at the post office with our Dad), and every year, his family would take Merrill to Melbourne Beach fishing. One day they were south of the Sebastian Inlet on the south edge of the jetties, and Merrill was in the water about to his neck. Johnny was up on the shore and started yelling, “Merrill, look out behind you-there is a shark.” Merrill thought he was kidding and said, “Yea, yea, I know your antics, you can’t fool me.” But Johnny then started becoming frantic, so Merrill looked around, and here was a fin heading straight for him. It looked like about a 10,000 lb. animal to Merrill, the way it was heading for him. Merrill started walking and pulling his way in as fast as he could through the water, but that thing bumped into him and he barely made it to the shore. The fish went down the coast where Mr. Brown was surf fishing, and he caught it and brought it in. It was only about 4 ft. long, but Merrill was so angry at it, he got a piece of driftwood and started furiously beating it. That scared him so much, that to his death, he would not fish in salt water-in fact, he would not even put his big toe in salt water. (He did, however, enjoy fishing in fresh water.)

10) Every Thanksgiving, Merrill used to go camping with Jr. in tents for two weeks-even when he was in the Navy. One year when he was at Rice Institute during the war, he invited two of his friends from school, John Sullivan and Gene Musgrave, to accompany them. They all went way out to the south of Grape Hammock, a favorite campground. They took their Navy-issued canvas hammocks (which were used aboard ships) and stretched them between three trees like a triangle, putting their sea bags in them for sleeping. They then built a fire in the middle and put some potatoes under the ashes for overnight slow cooking to have for their breakfast the next morning. They sat around the campfire until about 2:00 A.M. and then crawled into their hammocks for the night. Gene Musgrave was quite heavy, so his hammock sagged real low, almost touching the ground when he was in it. About 3:00 in the morning, after they had gotten to sleep, some wild hogs started rooting around for the potatoes. One big hog got under Gene’s hammock turning him over and he fell right on top of it. The hog started squealing, Gene was yelling, Merrill and John fell out of their hammocks at the commotion, and when they saw what had happened, they about died laughing. It was hard to get back to sleep after that.

11) Once Jr. and Mildred were out camping and had Merrill and Lucille come out. Lucille was not much for camping. Merrill pitched his tent and they all played canasta until about midnight when Mildred and Lucille went to bed. Merrill and Jr. sat around the campfire talking for quite awhile, then went into the tent. Merrill tucked Lucille in, fixing her mosquito netting, and then got into his bed-she was already snoring. All of a sudden she said, “Merrill, what’s that?” There was something going up and down the side of the tent. Merrill shook the tent and went on back to sleep. She said again, “Merrill, Merrill, you get out there and get rid of that thing.” Merrill said, “Oh, it’s nothing-just something falling on the tent.” Merrill lay there listening-he heard something hit the tent and make noises. Lucille said, “Merrill, you get out there and get rid of that thing or take me into town.” Merrill got his flashlight and went outside and looked around. There was a dead tree about 50-100 feet away and a flying squirrel was making a game out of running up the tree, gliding onto the top of the tent, sliding down the side, jumping off onto the ground, running across the ground, up the tree, and then getting ready to do it again. Merrill shined his light onto him, started throwing some things toward the tree, and finally he left. They were not bothered anymore with him.

EPILOGUE: When Merrill was flying with the Flag outfit at Patuxent River, he was under cover (only Mother, Dad, and Jr. aware). We thought he flunked himself out of Rice by turning in blank examinations when he discovered he must extend his enlistment six more years after commissioning. We thought his rank was Electrician’s Mate 1st class. Off duty, he wore a sailor suit. We didn’t find out his true status (a Naval Aviator with the rank of Lt. Commander) until 1992.

1. MERRILL’S SON: LARRY DALE was born in Miami on May 9, 1953.

When Larry was 3 months old, Merrill moved to Tampa for a year, then to Orlando for 3 years, returning to Tampa in 1957 where they remained until 1966 when they moved to St. Augustine (Larry was 13). They remained here with the Ancient City Baptist church until 1973 (Larry was 20) when Merrill got a job at the Old Jail. Since Merrill and Lucille worked for churches during most of Larry’s growing up years, he was always very involved in church activities.

Larry was very popular both at school and at church. Larry graduated from St. Augustine High School in June 1971 and received a degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida in 1975.

On August 31, 1974 Larry married JANICE LEE REHBEIN at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Orlando. After graduation from UF, Larry was employed as a sales representative for the Campbell Soup Company in Jacksonville. While here, Janice got a CPA from the community college. In about 1982 Larry was transferred to their Atlanta office (living in the suburb, Kennesaw) until 1984 when he got a position with the Gold Bond Ice Cream Company. He transferred to their Ocala office in about 1987 and he and Janice bought a beautiful home there with a built-in swimming pool. In 2000 Larry got a sales rep. position with the McNeil Consumer Products Co., a division of Johnson & Johnson, and Janice an accounting position with Berryhill, Hoffman & Company where she does accounting and taxes.

In 2002 Larry was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February and had his prostate removed in May. He is doing great now. He travels a lot in his job and Janice works full-time and does volunteer work for the schools and their Lutheran church, where they are actively involved. They are a true tribute to the Martin family.

BRADLEY DALE was born on Sept. 21, 1978; KEVIN SCOTT was born on Jan. 18, 1982. They were very active little boys and grew up being great gator fans (Gator paraphernalia was in every room). Both boys excelled in their private schools and went on to the U. of Florida, Bradley majoring in telecommunications and law. He married in 2003, passed the Florida Law Bar and is presently employed by a law firm in Sarasota. He has a little daughter and the family is having a house built in River View near Tampa. Kevin completed his studies at the University of Florida with a major in English. In 2002, he spent 6 weeks at Cambridge University in England through the UF Overseas Study Program. He is currently teaching and plans to do graduate work in a couple of years.