Merrill Ernest Samuelson

He was my great uncle, through my grandmother, Becky Mize, born Bessie Samuelson. I never met him but never heard one bad word uttered in the family about him, even though he had different politics and social values than my grandmother. He took my mother under his wing during her time at UW. he wasn't only from the greatest generation or a great uncle, he was a great man.

My father was related to Merrill, they were cousins, I believe my dad's mother and Merrill's mother were sisters. Merrill and Arthemise visited our family on a few occasions on the Eastside, in Redmond, with my uncle's family, he was also Merrill's cousin. They were a nice family, Merrill took photos of a family gathering we had at Marymoor Park in about 1971-I'll always remember the picture of me up in a tree holding a transistor radio that Merrill took, and that it was the day after my pony...

My father was related to Merrill, they were cousins, I believe my dad's mother and Merrill's mother were sisters. Merrill and Arthemise visited our family on a few occasions on the Eastside, in Redmond, with my uncle's family, he was also Merrill's cousin. They were a nice family, Merrill took photos of a family gathering we had a Marymoor Park in about 1971-I'll always remember the picture of me up in a tree holding a transistor radio that Merrill took, and that it was the day after my pony...

Merrill, also known with affection as "Sammy," by us journalism students at Kansas State circa 1950, was the sort of teacher whose kindly soft-spokenness overlies a steely dedication to basic principles of sound, responsible journalism. I wish his model could be reissued in numbers today.

Merrill was one of my two most influential journalism teachers when I was an undergraduate at Kansas State. He taught editing with energy and precision and convinced me of the importance of math for journalists. He carried a slide rule! We student journalists liked to argue with our professors, and whenever a quantitative dispute came up, he would quietly reach for his pocket-size slide rule and settle the argument.
Although ours was the postwar "silent generation" of student...

Merrill, my friend, I will always remember you and your love of family. You never failed to say how blessed you were with lovely wife, 2 sons, great daughter-in-law, and esp. your grandsons, and then your wonderful smile when you held your great-grandson.

You helped with spelling and once in awhile caught me using incorrect english. ;-D