15 Life History --- 1962 High School in Licking Missouri

Ken and Gary studying

I enjoyed acting and had some small parts in a couple of the Licking High School plays. The speech teacher was the director. I enjoyed his speech class and the dramatic interpretation class that I later took at Southwest Missouri State College (SMS).

** Life History by Garrett Merrick **

(This history has been broken into sections and pictures added to make separate posts in this blog.
They are numbered in chronological order.)

I was born on 15 December 1946, the second of three sons born to Lillian Edith Conley and Charles Aaron Jarvis.  Melvin Charles Jarvis Merrick, my older brother, arrived previously on 29 March 1945.  My younger brother, Kenneth Ray, came along on 10 November 1948.  My very earliest memory is of lying in bed at night, being scared by ghosts in the closet at the end of my bed.  I solved the problem by closing the closet door every night.

1 Life History -- 1946 Birth of Garrett Merrick

I was born on 15 December 1946, the second of three sons born to Lillian Edith Conley and Charles Aaron Jarvis. Melvin Charles Jarvis Merrick, my older brother, arrived previously on 29 March 1945. My younger brother, Kenneth Ray, came along on 10 November 1948. We were all born in Akron, Ohio.

2 Life History - 1947 - 1950 Early Years Before School

Mel top left; Ken in middle front; Gary front right

Edith with Gary left; Ken center; Mel right

My very earliest memory is of lying in bed at night, being scared by ghosts in the closet at the end of my bed. I solved the problem by closing the closet door every night.

8 Life History --- I Learned Never to Swear

Probably my most memorable experience at Elm Drive in Akron occurred when Angelo, the older and not very pleasant neighborhood paper boy, threw a ball at me.  I wasn’t hurt much at all, but I convinced myself that I was and that my pain justified profanity in reporting the incident to my mother.  She did not agree that profanity was justified and promptly, and forcefully, washed my mouth out with soap.  I became convinced that profanity is never justified.

7 Life History --- Blue Pond

It was fun to visit the old school with Ken when we returned to Akron in August 1990 for Mom’s funeral.  We also visited Elm Drive.  The house was gone, but it had recently been raining, and the corner was filled with a big puddle just like in the old days.  We walked into the high school field behind the house.  We used to cross the field to occasionally swim in the YMCA pool beyond.  We even found the same hole in the fence that we climbed through many times to get into Blue Pond.  We weren’t dressed for going under this time, so we didn’t.  But, as kids, we spent a lot of time in that ‘forbidden’ swamp.  We especially liked to cross over the old buildings debris and play on the swampy cottontail-filled island.  None of us ever drowned, contrary to the warnings of our mothers.  We did pick elderberries which Mom occasionally made into pies.

5 Life History --- Jarvis Relatives

My other favorite relative was my father’s brother, Uncle Carroll. He would take us for rides in his car. He impressed me with his knowledge of which direction other cars were going to turn; I later learned about turn signals and turning lanes. On one occasion he took us to visit Grandma Jarvis (Bessie) in West Virginia. It was wonderful: the countryside; the steep West Virginia hills, especially in the morning fog; watching someone milk the cow; feeling free and outdoors; Grandma’s garden; and her scrumptious rhubarb pie. Grandma was plump - and also kind and loving. I have no memory of ever seeing her again, though when I was nineteen or twenty, we had some pleasant correspondence.

6 Life History --- 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grades

I never went to kindergarten. While we were still living in the attic across from Grandma Conley, my mother enrolled me in first grade, so I was a little younger than the other kids, not turning six until December. I loved my first grade teacher and was proud that she said I was a smart boy.

9 Life History --- 1957 Mom Remarried - Suffield and Randolph

Arthur John Merrick

I was eleven and we were living on Elm Drive when Mom met and married (a week later), Arthur ‘John’ Merrick, the trash collector.  He took us to a scary movie at the drive-in; I called him ‘Pop’.  

Ken, Mel, Gary Merrick

10 Life History --- 1958 Arizona

We packed up the car, and Dad took us to Phoenix Arizona. We lived for a few months in the Alhambra motel, a rundown hotel which had been converted to apartments. It had lots of cockroaches and other bugs. There were some other families that lived there who had kids our age. Dad invited the LDS missionaries to teach us. I believed them from the first, and the family was baptized on 9 September 1958.  (Mel and Gary with pets)

11 Life History --- 1958 Joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

In the summer of 1958, Dad invited the LDS missionaries to teach us. We were living in our converted-a-motel apartment, the Alhambra Apartments.  I believed them from the first. Their lessons made good sense to me, especially about the Gospel being lost and restored.  I don’t remember much of the lessons, but I remember the feeling that “this is true”.  It must have been the testifying from the Holy Ghost, because I have always remembered my testimony of its truth.  I believe one of the missionaries was named Sidney Johnson.  Our whole family was baptized on September 9 September 1958.

13 Life History --- Providing Chicken Dinner

While on the farm in Licking, I fashioned a make-shift bow. It was pretty puny.  I needed some arrows, so I made some. I found several small straight branches, cut them off some tree (we had a sizable wooded area right near the house), de-barked them, and whittled a point on the end.

This might have been the summer that I was cutting something with the knife blade toward me instead of away from me.  I still have the scar near the knuckle on my left index finger where I got sewed up.

My arrows were not very straight, and my aim was poor, so I didn’t hit much.  I shot at a chicken with no prospect of hitting it, but did.  I had to pluck the chicken for our dinner that night.

12 Life History --- 1961 Licking Missouri

Mel, John, Garrett, Ken Merrick

Dad was a wanderer and in the summer of 1961 decided to become a Missouri farmer. So, we moved to a forty acre farm in Licking, Missouri. The old house had no indoor plumbing or furnace, but it did have electricity! It was my job to get up in the middle of each winter night to put more wood in the living room pot-bellied stove, so the fire could make it through the night. We still needed lots of blankets in the unheated bedrooms. We collected rainwater off the roof into a cistern for drinking water. We pumped it out with a hand pump, and occasionally added lime for purifying.                                               

16 Life History --- 1964 Graduating from Licking High

I was disappointed because Janie Ellis beat me out for Valedictorian by just a hair. Instead, I graduated as Salutatorian (2nd highest honor) from Licking High School in May 1964.

17 Life History -- 1964 SMS (Southwest Missouri State)

After I graduated from Licking High School in May 1964, one of the school counselors helped me get a job as a secretary at SMS and an apartment in Springfield. I was extremely anxious to leave home, so I enrolled for summer term and left Licking just a few days after graduation. Mom was quite sad and concerned, but I knew she understood. I hitchhiked and was picked up by a trucker. I found my way to 920 S. National Avenue, where I shared an apartment with a student several years my senior (I think his name was David). We roomed together for a year, then I shared another apartment in the same building with Tom Tiefke, an LDS friend. Next, I lived with a German family, the Ruf’s, for two years while Gerhard, their son, was on his mission (two years of service as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

18 Life History --- 1964 Friends at SMS

President Murray, Garrett Merrick (back), Ernie Chittim,  John Cochran, Sister Murray, Ruth Chittim, LeMerle Cochran  

In addition to Hermann and Gertrude Ruf, John and LeMerle Cochran were most supportive to me. They had me over for dinner occasionally, gave me good advice, and even financed my motorcycle purchase. I had previously bought a good 5-speed bicycle, and got around quite a bit on it. The Cochrans persuaded me to buy the motorcycle after I informed them of my intention to ride my bike to Ohio. I never rode the bike much after getting the motorcycle, so I sold it to Bell’s in Willard Missouri, near Springfield.  1971 pictures

22 Life History --- Motorcycle Trip to California

Garrett Merrick

LeMerle and John Cochran

One Christmas I rode the motorcycle to visit the Cochrans in Bakersfield CA. They took me to Knotts Berry Farm, and we had other good times. I returned via Phoenix and Albuquerque. However, heading north out of Albuquerque, I made a poor choice and turned east toward Lubbock TX. It so happened that this road crossed a 9000 foot high mountain pass. Unfortunately, it also began to snow when I neared the top! I struggled slowly on until I came to a small town late at night, where I slept behind a gas station. The storm ended, but I still had to slowly navigatge icy roads down to Lubbock. Heading out of Lubbock I slipped and broke the motorcycle clutch handle. My traveling spirit broke, too. I knew some Springfield church members frequently visited Lubbock, so I contacted some church members who knew them and would store my motorcycle until they could haul it back to Springfield for me on their next visit. A young family named Leuck was kind enough to put me up for a couple days before I rode the bus back.

21 Life History --- ROTC

Cadet Garrett Merrick

I chose to enroll in advanced ROTC* (the first two years were mandatory) since it was during the
height of the Vietnam war. For right now I had an educational deferment, but we all knew that most of us would be drafted right after graduation.  If I had to go, I intended to go as an officer! However, my ROTC motivation was low, and I was a rather casual cadet. I rode my motorcycle to ROTC summer camp at Fort Sill Oklahoma. I did well at camp, especially in the physical fitness events. I ran a six minute mile, but just barely.

23 Life History --- 1968 Joining the Army - 1st assignment Fort Belvoir, Virginia; 2nd Fort Benning, Georgia

2nd Lieutenant Garrett Merrick 

 I graduated from SMS in January 1968, with a degree in chemistry and secondary education, and a commission as a second lieutenant in the Army Corps of Engineers. On my way to Fort Belvoir Virginia for my engineer officer basic training, I visited the folks in Akron. While there I bought a 1964(?) Corvair and got a bumper rack to carry my motorcycle.

14 Life History --- 1963 Garrett the Lumberjack

I worked a summer cutting cord wood with Henry Blankenship our closest neighbor who lived about a quarter mile down the dirt road from us in Licking, Missouri.  I think it was the summer between my junior and senior years.  I don’t remember how much he paid me, but he was a poor man who didn’t have much, and I don’t remember any other jobs being available.

I had to get up early when it was still dark and walk to his house where his wife, Martha,  made biscuits and gravy for our breakfast - pretty good stuff!  We rode in his old pickup to various cutting sites.  He would cut down the right sized trees with his chain saw, trim the branches off, then cut the trunks to the correct length (he had a length rod of some sort attached to his chain saw).  I then used a sledge hammer and splitting iron to split the logs in half, then into quarter sections.  I also helped him load the split logs into the truck.  Then we would drive to the charcoal making place and unload the wood. He sold the wood to a kiln for making charcoal.