Merv was born in a farmhouse in a Mennonite community near Milford, Nebraska. Because of the location his education began in a one room schoolhouse with grades 1-6. He started school at the age of 4.
Growing up those first few years were good and memorable for Merv. There was no running water, no electricity, no radio and the heat came from a pot belly stove. They used corn cobs for fuel.
At the age of 6, and in 3rd grade, WWII ended. A returning soldier bought the farm on which they lived and they moved to Milford. Population 750. It was at school in Milford that a teacher recognised that Merv needed glasses and for the first time he saw leaves on trees. Petals on flowers. He saw this as a sign of good things to come.
Merv's first job was shining shoes at the shoe store on Saturday nights. The price was ten cents and Merv got to keep four cents. Soon he was given the opportunity to put new heels and soles on shoes as well as run the sewing machine. He was nine years old. Merv loved his childhood. He was taught "There is no substitute for a conscience like living in a small town." If he got paddled at school you could be there would be one waiting for him when he got home. During Merv's senior year of high school he broke his leg and had a cast for twelve weeks. When that came off he broke his right arm and that meant another six weeks in a cast.
Merv went to Hesston College in Hesston, Kansas. After that it was Bethel College where he met "the love of my life". Helen Rempel was a nursing student and their first date was a blind date set up by the couple who would become lifelong best friends, Gordon and Barb Goering. They dated for two years before getting married on 25 August 1963. In 1962, Merv moved to Dallas and went to work for Blue Cross Blue Shield. The intent was to get settled while Helen finished nurses training. While at BCBS Merv met and worked for a man named Ross Perot. He managed data processing while also starting his own company, EDS. Merv was in the right place at the right time.
In 1963, after the wedding, Merv and Helen lived paycheck to paycheck. Their cash reserve was down to $.12. Helen got a job as a scrub nurse in surgery at Baylor University Medical Center Hospital while Merv continued to work with Ross at BCBS. He watched from the sidelines as those guys at EDS were having so much fun getting the company running so Merv made the switch to EDS which he always called a "Good Move!"
In January 1969 Merv and Helen moved the family to Pennsylvania. He had so many jobs and job titles that he had a house with his family in it in Pennsylvania, an apartment in Boston, a place in Philadelphia and an apartment in Manhattan. On a very cold and snowy winter night in Boston Merv and Ross met at a hotel. Ross asked, "Would you consider moving back to Dallas?" Merv instantly replied, "I'll do it." "Don't you need to talk to Helen?" "No, I'll do it." Then Merv had to sell the idea to Helen who loved living in Pennsylvania. Helen often remembers the "Sunday drives through the hilly country. It was beautiful."
Merv thrived at EDS for the next 21 years as Ross's "right hand man". He considered it a dream job "with experiences around that world that simply defied one's imagination."
In 1993, Merv retired at the age of fifty-five. He never regretted retiring early. He could try new things, read a hundred books a year (in 2021, Merv read his 1000th book since retiring) and watch his grandson Devin grow up. Denise and Devin lived briefly with Merv and Helen when Devin was ten months old. Watching Devin grow up was "a terrific adventure that I always cherished."
Merv said the three happiest days of his life were when he married Helen, Kristen was born and Denise was born. God richly blessed Merv and Helen with 59 years of marriage.
A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, 5801 West Plano Parkway, Plano, Texas at 10:30am on August 27, 2022. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation be made to the Mennonite Central Committee at https://mcc.org, Bethel College Nursing Program at https://www.bethelks.edu/alumni/alumni-association/bc-nursing-alumni/bethel-deaconess-hospital-history, or to St. Andrew United Methodist Church at https://www.standrewumc.org.
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