Merle Glenn Smith

1933 - 2025

June 26, 1933 - December 27, 2025

Merle Smith, age 92, of Oak Park Heights, MN, formerly of Rochester, MN and Grundy Center, IA, passed away on December 27, 2025, at Oak Park Senior Living in Oak Park Heights, MN where he received extraordinary and loving care for the last 18 months of his life.

Merle was the oldest of three children born to Dale Cecil Smith and Hazel Ione (Sawyer) Smith. He was born in Topeka, KS where Dale was playing baseball for the Topeka Senators at the time. The family moved back to Grundy Center after that baseball season, and Grundy Center was Merle's hometown for nearly three decades. Grundy held a special place in Merle's heart his entire life. He enjoyed return trips to the family home, and he maintained friendships and continued to read the Grundy Register until his death.

Merle graduated from Grundy Center High School in 1951. He was a four-sport athlete and earned 10 high school athletic letters at Grundy, an especially amazing feat given that he had polio as a toddler and doctors told his parents that he would never walk. Merle then attended Iowa State Teachers College, continuing with sports, for two years until he volunteered for the U.S. Army from 1954-56 serving in a special electronic warfare unit during the Korean War. He returned to graduate with a teaching degree from Iowa State Teachers College in 1958 and took a job teaching school and coaching multiple sports in Hampton, IA where he met the love of his life, Donna Mae Nelson, also a schoolteacher in Hampton. The two married on November 26, 1960 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City, IA and the following year they moved to Visalia, CA. However, strong family relationships pulled Merle and Donna back to the Midwest a year later. Their first stop was in Cedar Rapids, IA where Merle took a position with Collins Radio, before returning to teaching life science and biology and coaching three sports at Kellogg Junior High in Rochester, MN from 1966 until he retired in 1994. Concurrent with his education career, Merle earned two additional master's degrees, one in education from Colorado State University and another in biology from the University of Idaho. Merle and Donna made a home for their four boys and two amazing dogs, nearly all of it living in the same house in NW Rochester and only moved from Rochester in 2024 when health concerns forced the change.

Merle was an incredible educator, coach and sports enthusiast. His students, athletes and children recognized him as a stern disciplinarian who took his job of molding the next generation very seriously. He modeled responsibility and accountability his entire life. A softer side of Merle that few saw was on display whenever he was with animals or grandchildren. He loved both immeasurably.

Merle also loved to fly. He earned his private pilot license in 1949 at the age of 16 with the help of his namesake and uncle who owned the airport in Newton, IA. Merle was also a Mason and a member of the Emerald Masonic Lodge #334 in Grundy Center.

Remaining to honor and celebrate Merle's life are his youngest brother Bob (Becky); his sons Doug (Susan), Greg (Linda), Steve (Karen) and Dave (Jill); grandchildren Kyle, Austin, Erica, Parker, Talen and Reed; sister-in-law Rosemary Fjelstul and many nieces and nephews.

In heaven, Merle joins Donna, his parents Dale and Hazel Smith, father and mother-in-law Elmer and Lucy, brother and sister-in-law Jerry and Carol Smith and his favorite uncle and aunt Merle and Ruth Smith.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at Bethel Lutheran Church, 810 3rd Ave SE, Rochester, MN, where he and his family were members. Visitation will happen at 10:00AM, followed by a service at 11:00AM and lunch at noon. Interment of ashes will occur at Rose Hill Cemetery in Grundy Center, IA at a later date.