Merlin L Whitted

Merlin L. Whitted, age 75, Willow Lake, died in a DeSmet hospital on Friday, September 2, 2011 of an apparent heart attack he had suffered earlier in the afternoon at Willow Lake. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 11AM in the Congregational United Church of Christ in Willow Lake with Pastor Rosanne Anderson officiating. The organist will be Barbara Warkenthien with a duet by Melanie Schmidt and Dorothy Haug. They will sing "How Great Thou Art" and "Love Lifted Me". All friends and family should consider themselves as honorary casketbearers. Active Casketbearers will be Shane Ladwig, Gary Nelson, Ron Denman, Harold Whirledge, Dallas Laube, Larry Steen, Wayne Tellinghuisen and Dan Tonak. Burial will be in the Collins Cemetery at Willow Lake. He was born Merlin Lee Whitted on October 15, 1935 at Willow Lake, the son of Russell and Viola (Phillips) Whitted. He attended country school west of Willow Lake through the 8th grade. Following his education he worked on the family farm in Rosedale Township. He then worked on the farm for Earl Strube near Iroquois for a few years. He married Bernice Budreau on November 27, 1954 to this union two children; Gene and Lucinda "Lucy" were born. This marriage later ended in divorce. Over the years Merlin has worked for the Clark County Highway Dept. from 1958-59, from 1959-1966 he worked for C H Lein Construction in Rapid City as a welder and heavy equipment operator. In 1966 he went to work for Lee's Construction in Spearfish as a supervisor in blacktop paving. He was united in marriage to Carol Gross Ladson on August 27, 1969 at Sturgis. To this union a daughter, Rene, was born. Merlin then adopted Carol's daughters, Sheri and Shelda. A move to Gillette, WY was next for Merlin where he worked from 1970-1978 in the oil fields operating heavy equipment and in 1978 he worked for Amax Coal Company at Gillette as a welding supervisor until 1984. In 1984 he began employment with the Powder River Coal Company at Gillette as a truck driver an operator retiring in March of 1998 and in April of that year, at the suggestion of Carol, they moved to Willow Lake. As you know Merlin, he was hired for a certain position at a company, but he was much more to them in many other areas! He really didn't retire as he became the maintenance supervisor for Willow Lake in 2006 and served in that position until 2010. Merlin loved that work and was very much a work ethic person, believing every job should be done to the best it could be. He officially retired on April 30, 2010 from the City. Merlin has also helped Harold Whirledge from 2000-2010 on the farm. He loved his early morning coffee with the group, tinkering and fixing everything, gardening and fishing. Merlin will long be remembered by many as being a guy who would always say "yes" I can fix it, no problem, and was a stranger to none. He loved spending time with his family and especially all of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was a member of the Congregational United Church of Christ and the Willow Lake Lions Club. His generosity in giving was second to none, as he had marked on his driver's license to be a donor, and that he was after his death. Thanks Merlin for giving someone else the gift of sight. Grateful for having shared in his life is his wife of some 42 years, Carol, children, Gene (Donna) Whitted of Gillette, WY, Lucy (Marvin) Schofield of Medicine Bow, WY, Sheri Whitted of Huron, Shelda (Michael) Hook of Hawarden, IA, Rene (Derrick) Dunlap of Crescent Valley, NV, 13 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren, his siblings, Thelma Froke of Brandon, MaDonna (Lee) Maroon of Walla Walla, WA, Carol (Frank) Nemec of Plymouth, WA and Debra (Christopher) Scudder of Prescott, WA and a brother-in-law, John (Nerine) Gross of Sturgis. Preceding him in death were his parents and siblings, Darlene "Dolly" (Donald) McMillan, Vivian Jensen, Donald and Kenneth Whitted and a brother-in-law, Curtis Froke. Visitation will be from 5-7PM on Wednesday at the Furness Funeral Home in Clark and after 9:30 AM at the Church on Thursday. For more information go to www.furnessfuneralhome.com