ROBERT MERRY

Robert E. (Bob) Merry Robert E. (Bob) Merry, 90, of Gig Harbor died March 9, 2011. He was born August 2, 1920 in Tacoma, the second of two children to Adrian and Nellie (Bibby) Merry. He attended elementary schools in Tacoma. His mother died when he was eight, and in 1933 he, his father, and sister Betty left Tacoma for a cottage on remote acreage in the Pt. Fosdick area of Gig Harbor. He graduated from Union High School (now Harbor Ridge Middle School) in 1938, and began what he liked to joke launched his journalism career - a newspaper delivery route. He also worked as a projectionist at the Gig Harbor Roxy Theater until the outbreak of World War II, during which he served as a P-47 aircraft mechanic in the Army Air Corps. In 1942 he married Carol Rasmussen, the daughter of Scandinavian immigrants. Following the war, he and Carol bought a house on an old farmstead in North Rosedale, and he enrolled at the College of Puget Sound, where he earned a degree in English literature in 1951. Smitten by the academic life, he, Carol, and now three small children moved to Ithaca, New York, where in 1952 he earned a master's degree, also in English literature, from Cornell University. Following an additional year of graduate study at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, he went to work for the Tacoma News Tribune , where he rose from reporter to city editor and finally managing editor. During this period the family built a house at Horsehead Bay, where growing ranks of grandchildren often filled the home with noise and laughter. He retired from the Tribune in 1974 to pursue real estate investment and other interests, including especially his study of classical music. He wrote a semi-autobiographical book on the subject titled Beautiful and Strange: The Music I Have Known , published when he was 83, just as macular degeneration was destroying his eyesight and ability to read. Carol died in 1993 and for most of his remaining years he lived alone while making numerous new and valued friendships at Quiet Forest Park condominiums in Gig Harbor. He is survived by daughter Susanne (John) Lewis, Issaquah; son Robert W. (Susan) Merry, McLean, VA; son John F. (Karen) Merry, Gig Harbor; grandchildren Michael Hanthorn, Denver; Robert Merry, Ashburn, VA; Jason (Haylee) Hanthorn, Mercer Island; Johanna (John) Derlega, Washington, DC; Adrian (Kelly) Merry, Tacoma; Thomas (Alaina) Merry, North Bend; and Stephanie Merry, Washington, DC; great-grandchildren Maisie and Elliott Derlega, Washington, DC, and Andrew Merry, Tacoma; sister Betty Mikal, Torrance, CA; numerous nieces and nephews; and faithful friend and companion Frances Whitehorn, Bartlesville, OK. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at Haven of Rest, 8503 State Route 16 NW, Gig Harbor. The family wishes to thank the staffs at Clare Bridge Shoreline View senior living facility in Gig Harbor and at Multicare Home Health and Hospice for their wonderful care and support during his last months of life. Memorial donations can be made to Multicare Home Health and Hospice or to the Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society and Museum.