Merl C. Graham

Merl C. Graham, 86 of Glenrock, passed away Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at his home surrounded by his loving family. Merl was born March 11, 1928 in Bromhead, Saskatchewan, to RGW and Mabel Graham, the oldest of five children. He moved to Manhattan Beach, OR with his family in 1948. Merl was drafted into the US Army in October of 1950 serving during the Korean Conflict. He then married the love of his life Lorna M. Bell in March of 1951 and together they had five children, Rhonda, Jim, Royce, Larry, and Brenda. Moving to Glenrock in 1960 he went to work for PP&L until his retirement in 1983. He enjoyed his retirement and was very active. He wanted to keep busy at all times and became a true entrepreneur, he had a love of the land and enjoyed any activity that allowed him to farm and grow. Merl was preceded in death by his parents; brother, James Graham; and sister, Winona Vermilyea. he is survived by his wife, Lorna M. Graham; children, Rhonda (Barry) Nelson, Jim (Tina) Graham, Royce (Milissia) Graham, Larry (Brenda) Graham, Brenda (Leonard) Gray; 15 grandchildren; 10 great grandchildren; sisters, Lavine Treharne, and Shirley (Neil) Magnuson; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held 2:00 PM, Saturday, December 6, 2014 at the Community Baptist Church in Glenrock with military honors. In lieu of flowers the family suggest donations be made to the Glenrock Senior Center or the Community Baptist Church.

Merl C. Graham

Merl Graham was a son, a brother, a cousin, a husband, a friend and a father. He was born in Bromhead, Saskatchewan, Canada on March 11, 1928. Our dad was many things to us and to those around him. He instilled in his children certain values. One of which was "Put in a hard day's work. If you have to borrow something then return it better than you received it and promptly."
Merl grew up in Canada the first born son of RGW (Pat) and Mabel Graham. He had 1 brother and 3 sisters. He told stories of growing up in Canada .His sense of hard work started at a young age. His days started with chores and then off to school on his horse along with his brother and sisters. We always thought there must have been a lot more snow in Canada then we had in Wyoming. Whenever we complained about walking to school in the snow he'd say "When I was a kid we had snow above the telephone poles." He did not feel sorry for us. He held on to his Canadian greeting of "G'day," to everyone he encountered regardless of the time of day.
Merl had a sense of loyalty to his newly adopted country, the United States. He and his family had moved from Canada to Oregon in 1948. He then was drafted into the army in 1950. He served in the Korean Conflict from 1950 – 1952. Dad along with his army buddies spent months in trenches in Korea with rats and dealing with the bitter elements. They fought in the battle of Porkchop Hill (Mount Baldy). When given his discharge papers one day, he asked to stay to finish the job and not to abandon his buddies. He was not given that option and returned to his newly wed wife. After his return, he took correspondent courses to obtain his naturalization papers. Shortly after he received his citizenship, President Eisenhower proclaimed that all who had served in the Korean Conflict would automatically receive citizenship. He is a double citizen of United States.
Merl's loyalty continued with his family, his wife of 63 years, his children and his coworkers. Jim told of a time when Dad dropped what he was doing and drove to Alaska to help him. We all have similar stories.
Merl provided for his family. He first went to work for a power plant in Oregon. He was later transferred to Wyoming in 1960 and worked at the DJ Power Plant until his retirement in 1983.
After retirement, Merl served as a consultant for PP&L for a few years. Part of that time was spent in California. However, his real passion began with his own business of various jobs which consisted using a backhoe, dump truck and tractors. This job allowed him to use his love of machinery and farming. His place at Arrowhead was immaculate. He spent many hours mowing and watering his trees. He made compost to supply to many lawns and gardens. Rhonda's children remember spending many hours down there helping him.
Merl was a hard worker. He felt his five children should have the same hard working principals as he did. He was not a person who just sat around. He had been working since he was around 13 years old. He had to quit school to help out his family. His lack of education did not stop his achievements or his desire to learn. He got his GED and took college classes. He always had extra jobs in his off hours. He fixed up older homes and built new homes to sell and to keep his children busy. Royce told of having to get up early on Saturdays to go work with Dad. One Saturday, Dad was working the graveyard shift and while he was still asleep, the boys tied him into his room thinking that maybe they could get out of working that day. Their ploy did not work.
Merl loved tractors and anything to do with farming. On trips if he saw a combine in a field, Dad's face would light up as he stopped to watch for a while. In 1959, Dad was given an opportunity to help an Army buddy with a combining job in North Dakota. He packed up his wife and children and together they traveled by train to North Dakota. Combining was hard work and super long days not only for him but also for mom. She took care of two small children in a small trailer that was shared by the Army buddy and his pregnant wife. She also helped with putting together 5 meals a day, 2 of which had to be delivered to the field. He loved it, but Mom thought otherwise. She said she would not make a good farmer's wife. Needless to say we ended up going back to Oregon. Dad found a used jeep at a dealer to drive back, but after finding out its fastest speed was only 45 MPH he traded it in for a pickup at the nearest dealership which was in Montana. His passion for tractors continued as he bought several over the years including his favorite 1946 John Deere tractor. He took great pride in using this tractor to pull his grandchildren in a buggy that he had built. The grandkids will never forget the year in the Glenrock parade where he had forgotten to put gas in the tractor even though his wife had reminded him. They ran out of gas in the middle of the parade.

Merl enjoyed collecting and rebuilding antiques over the years. It was as much fun finding them as it was having them. Several of his antiques are displayed at the Parkway Plaza.
Merl was a kid at heart. Even though he worked hard, he made time to have fun. We went camping and water skiing every summer. During the winter he would pull us behind his truck on a homemade sled that accommodated all five of his children and the neighboring kids as well. He bought an old Willy's jeep to be used for hunting and fun explorations around the hillsides of Glenrock. We dug around old buildings and the dump looking for treasures. Taking loads of trash to the dump often resulted in bringing back many treasures.
Merl spent time with each of his children. Jim and Rhonda remember when he took them to 'town' Christmas shopping. They picked out gifts for their siblings and for their mother. Most memorable for them, though, was eating out at the Village Inn. That was an extra special moment for the two them. Rhonda recalls Easter mornings when he took her to the Easter Sunrise services and then on to the pancake breakfast at the church. Watching the sun come up, sitting beside her father was a memory that will live on forever in his daughters' heart.
Brenda remembers many hours along her father's side as he tinkered in the garage, riding along to the dump or going down to Arrowhead to water the trees. She has fond memories of him cheering for her in track races and being her biggest supporter in her running.
Larry remembers the numerous phone