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Merrill Kerr Gee by Loni Gee Hackworth (daughter)
Part One
During the biggest snowstorm ever recorded on April 12, Merrill Kerr Gee was born in 1916 in Rexburg, Idaho in a home that was just for delivering babies. Merrill was given the name Merrill because that was his grandmother’s maiden name and also his great-grandfather was Marriner Wood Merrill - a former apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His middle name - Kerr - was his mother’s maiden name.
Merrill was the fourth of five sons born to William Erastus Gee and Mary Ellen Kerr Gee. Growing up, Merrill did not have a family nickname as his mother had named her children specifically to avoid having them called by nicknames. His other brothers include: William Marion; Ivin Lafayette, who was named after the Revolutionary War hero; Lynn Lamar, who was called “Cupie” later on by his school mates because he was such a ladies’ man; and the youngest brother, Vernon.
The home in Rexburg where Merrill lived was originally a one-story, wood home with a living-room entry and a back sleeping porch. Fairly early in Merrill’s young life, the home was remodeled to be two-story. In the beginning, the home had an outhouse, but in the remodeling, a bathtub and toilet were added.
On the new addition there was a long stairway off the bath and kitchen. Marion’s room was on the south with a little coal heater. At the head of the stairs was a long closet jam-packed with costumes and uniforms from theatrical productions. Then there was one large room with two sets of beds for the four younger brothers.
Heating came from a “German space heater.” In the kitchen was a washing machine and a cream separator. Also in the kitchen, was a do-all kitchen stove that had a warming oven, cooking oven, and a firebox and a reservoir in which bathing water was heated in the days before the tub was installed. This stove burned coal and wood. One of Merrill’s jobs was to bring in the coal in buckets from the shed into the house.
The yard was at least a quarter of an acre. There was a sizable front and side lawn with a large garden in back. In the early days of Merrill’s youth, there was a corral and a barn in the back of the garden. Merrill’s father traded the back part of the lot for a corral so the family could have a horse, pigs, chickens, and a barn with a hay loft. The five Gee brothers had two pets in the early days - a horse named Tops, and a dog that was a Belgian shepherd. The dog was prone to wander at night and one night on its wanderings, some farmer shot it!
A favorite item in the Gee home was a gramophone that played Edison records. The earliest type of music recordings were cylinders; later they were thick platters. Every day, when Merrill’s mother would put him down for a nap, he would ask her to play a record on the gramophone. One of his favorite tunes was called “Poet and Peasant Overture.” Some singers that Merrill remembers listening to on this gramophone were John McCormack, an Irish singer, and Enrico Caruso.
While living in Rexburg, Merrill’s older brother, Lynn, turned over his paper route to him when he was about nine or ten. Lynn also sublet his janitorial job at Madison High School. Every night, Merrill would sweep floors and empty wastebaskets. On Fridays and Saturdays, he also cleaned the blackboards, vacuumed, etc. However, Merrill did refuse to do one job: enter and clean the girls’ lavatory.
Brother Lynn would take an hour off his grocery store job to clean the girls’ room. For this work cleaning the high school, Merrill received eight of the twelve dollars that Lynn was paid.
During the winter months in Idaho, the Gee boys would go sledding. Sometimes Lynn would put a rope on a sled or toboggan and a horse-drawn passenger wagon. The boys would get more snow in their eyes from the horses’s hooves than from the sky!
Merrill did try skiing a couple of times, but he fell on a pile which he thought was snow, but it turned out to be rocks! He broke both hips which still bothered him in later years, so that was the end of his youthful skiing. However, he did ski years later in Switzerland with his wife, Dorothy, when they lived in Europe.
For Thanksgiving, the Kerr kin went to Grandfather Kerr’s home in St. Anthony, Idaho. There would be four other families there. The adults ate first in the dining room, then the children ate in the kitchen. (As of 2003, that home is still standing in St. Anthony, Idaho.)
During the Christmas season, there was a tree that was decorated with live candles. Popcorn was also strung on the tree and a special fixture was placed on top. The home was decorated with large bells made of paper. Lynn’s job was to get up early and build a fire in the German space heater and the heater in the kitchen. On Christmas Day, as soon as they could stand the cold, the five boys would go downstairs, pop some popcorn and put something sweet on it. If the boys were lucky, there would be an orange, some nuts, and candy in their stockings. They would start rummaging through the packages. If there were a new phonograph, they would play it. Then the boys would go outside to go sledding or get pulled on the toboggan behind the horse.
Merrill’s mother, Mary Ellen, was an excellent cook. Merrill especially remembers her good home-made bread. For breakfast, the family always had hot cereal. The family also ate much rice.
Going to bed early was not a problem as there was not enough light to do much by, including reading. Before moving to Pocatello, the family subscribed to Boys Life Magazine, which Merrill read. Merrill was involved in Trail Builders and was the first trail builder to graduate in the Rexburg Stake Primary. Additionally, he was in a Primary harmonica band which played in a Primary convention. In Scouting, he went as far as Life Scout, but upon moving to Pocatello in his 12th year, he did not get involved in Scouting. As a young boy in Rexburg, Merrill’s chores were to gather the eggs and to deliver the weekly cream and eggs in the little red wagon to the Nelson-Ricks Creamery.
The Gee parents did not spank their sons, but their mother was more of a strict disciplinarian than their father. The family lived very frugally and there was no money for allowances. Going to movies for an entire afternoon cost one quarter, and as often as the opportunity arose, Merrill would go to the theater and watch the picture show over and over.
Merrill started his school career in Rexburg by going to Washington School in grades one and two. For grades three through six, he went to school at Adams, but he went back to Washington School for seventh grade as his father was on the school board and there were too few students at Washington, so Merrill’s father volunteered him to go there. After grade seven, the family moved to Pocatello, where Merrill went to Irving Junior High School for grades eight and nine. During his school years, Merrill always walked to school rather than ride a bus.
Although Merrill did not have a family nickname, during his school years, some of his classmates teased him and called him “pigeon breast.” Merrill hated this derogatory term, but he was called that because the left side of his chest was much smaller than the right side. Because of this chest abnormality, Merrill dreaded the time to shower in physical education classes, so if he couldn’t be first, he would wait to be the last. Because of the differing sizes of his chest, Merrill hated to swim in a one-piece swimming suit, which was fashionable in the times. As often as he could, he would borrow his brother, Marion’s two-piece suit. However, that didn’t always provide the protection he needed; the first time he borrowed it, when he tried diving, the bottom of the suit came off! He couldn’t see the bottom half of the suit and dreaded getting out of the water, so he swam around until he finally found it!
Merrill didn’t like athletics and hated it when teams were chosen. Although he was the tallest boy, he was the last to be chosen. However, he found a way to insure that he would be picked. Merrill’s older brothers had bought a genuine major-league catcher’s mitt … (the worst job on a baseball team was to catch a ball without a mitt), so when Merrill remembered to bring the mitt, he was assured of being picked to be on a team. In addition to the professional-style mitt, the Gee brothers also had a Louisville Slugger - a professional-style bat. He had never seen anything so beautiful as those shiny instruments. ... (the saxophones.)
When Merrill was a young boy in Rexburg, his mother took him to a Chatauquah concert - an evening of musical entertainment. He was absolutely fascinated by the saxophones.
After moving to Pocatello in June 1929, when Merrill was 13, Chesbro Music had organized a summer band. Merrill had desperately wanted to join and play the saxophone. At the time, however, his father was out of work, so it seemed an impossibility. While his mother went to General Primary meetings in Salt Lake, Merrill stepped on a rusty nail which went right through his old shoe. From this, he contracted blood poisoning and was forced to stay in bed. When his mother returned from Salt Lake City, upon seeing her son so ill in bed, she turned her face away and walked from the room. Merrill heard her say to his father, “Will, we are going to buy that boy a saxophone if I have to take in washings!”
So, Merrill got his beloved saxophone and his mother paid one dollar a month for the next three years! His mother certainly did well on that investment as Merrill played the saxophone for many years and it earned him money later on when he played in dance bands.
Merrill went to junior high school at Irving Junior High School in grades eight and nine. Some of the awards he achieved in music during his junior high school years were: 2nd place in saxophone solo; district meet in Idaho Falls and State Meet in Boise, Idaho where the band won first place; then the band won 2nd place in an interstate meet in Utah. He competed again in the sax solo contest in his second year at Irving Junior High School and won 2nd place again. |