Don and Kay 2: To the East Coast, Arctic, and back

After Don & Kay got married in 1953, they soon found themselves in Baltimore, Maryland for Don's first residency.

Kay and Don Merrill; Baltimore, Maryland; December, 1953.

Kay and Don Merrill. New shoes and socks! (Baltimore, Maryland, December 1953)

 By the next Christmas, Don had taken another residency or internship in New Jersey.

Don & Kay Merrill; New Jersey; December 1954.

In New Jersey, Don spent 1-2 months delivering babies. One time he delivered a baby, and when he turned to take care of it, its twin dropped in the bin. Oops! Well, no harm done...

Don had deferred service in the Navy until he finished his medical school, and then fulfilled it in the Coast Guard. He thus received orders to serve on an "ice breaker" in the arctic, where the government was building early warning systems to detect ICBMs (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles). His orders would have him reporting to the ship just a few weeks before their first baby was born. Kay apparently wrote to the President of the United States (!) to ask that he not have to leave until after the baby was born.

Fortunately, another guy was willing to swap assignments with him, so Don could be there when David was born. Happy day!

Baby David Merrill,  May 1955.

Seven days after David was born, the three of them drove across the country to Seattle. Don was supposed to depart almost immediately after they arrived, but the ice breaker ship, the "Storis", had problems, and so his departure was delayed for a few more weeks. Kay was so relieved, because it meant that Don could help them find a place and get all settled before he left.

Don, Kay and David Merrill, 1955.
Apparently they didn't start off with a lot of furniture.

The Storis was sometimes called "The Galloping Ghost of the Alaskan Coast". It was the first ship to cut through the ice of the Northwest Passage and thus circumnavigate North America, and was in service for 65 years. (You can see pictures and stories from the US Coast Guard history and a brief video trailer of an upcoming documentary).

US Coast Guard Storis (WMEC-38), 1955.

During Don's assignment on the Storis, he only had to help two people. One smashed his hand on-board. In another incident, a helicopter didn't land right, flipped over, and a guy ended up in the icy water for 5 minutes and had to be treated for hypothermia. He treated the guy by having him take a warm shower for 15 minutes. In contrast, the guy who had switched assignments with him had to perform several surgeries, including an appendectomy. So he felt like he lucked out a bit.

Don Merrill aboard the USCG Storis, 1955.
(It was so cold that even the film looks like it froze!)

David told about how Don met the Canadian "Mounties" and thought they were pretty spiffy in their uniforms.

Don Merrill and Canadian Mounties, aboard the Storis, 1955.

Don returned to Seattle after 3 months, got off the ship, and walked right past Kay, who had come to meet him. According to David, "He didn't recognize her holding a big, crying baby!"

Don, Kay, David, Jean, Thelma, Malcolm and Bruce Merrill, October 1955.
(Probably during a visit to California)

After that assignment they returned to the East Coast, apparently living for a time in Boston before moving to New York.

David, Don and Kay Merrill. Boston, Massachusetts. Christmas 1955.

Kay, Don and David Merrill. Boston, Massachusetts. Early 1956.

David, Kay and Don Merrill. January 1956.

Don, David and Kay Merrill. June, 1956.

Kay, Thelma and David Merrill. June, 1956.

Later that year they moved to New York.

New York, 1956.

And that is where Robin was born!

Robin Lynn Merrill, Staten Island, New York, 1956.

Believe it or not, Kay didn't have much in the way of pets growing up—just a parakeet, so I hear. But when they lived on the East Coast, they bought a dog in Flushing, New York, and thus named it "Latrine." (I don't know if this dog was it or not.)

David and Robin, about 1956.

David and Don. New York, 1956.

Robin and David Merrill, April 1957.

Robin Merrill, April 1957.

Kay, David, Robin and Don Merrill, July 1957.

Robin Merrill, 13 September 1957.

Kay, Don and Robin Merrill, 1957.

Robin and grandpa Malcolm Merrill, 1957.

At that point, Don had to choose a specialty, so he went to the University of California in San Francisco to finish a radiology degree. He would walk down the street to the bus and take a short ride to UCSF. They lived a few blocks from the "panhandle" of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. They didn't have a car at that time.

I'll bet is was fun for them to be near Grandma and Grandpa Merrill.

Malcolm Merrill with Robin, looking at the Cuckoo Clock (which I believe came from Switzerland?). June 1958.

Robin's 2nd birthday. September 13, 1958.

I used to love riding in this train at Tilden Park in Orinda, California.

Thelma Merrill, Gertrude and Frank Nelson (left);
Robin Merrill, Debbie and Cheryl Lynn Hickenlooper, David Merrill (right).
1/5-scale real steam engine train at Tilden Park, Orinda, California.

One day Thelma came to stay with the kids, and she told them, "You have a baby brother Mark!" David says one of his earliest memories of San Francisco is looking over the crib at Mark.

Mark, Don and Kay Merrill. April, 1960.

Don got a great job at the Oakland hospital, and they bought a house at 116 Ardeth Drive, Orinda, California. David said that the house cost $25,000, and that Malcolm and Thelma lent them the money for a downpayment. (Incidentally, zillow.com reports that this house sold in April 2015 for $1,475,000, so the price has gone up almost 60 times).

Frank & Gertrude Nelson, Malcolm Merrill;
Jean, Don, Kay and Thelma Merrill;
Robin and David Merrill.
116 Ardeth Drive, Ordina, California. December, 1960.

The house wasn't landscaped at the time. Kay ordered a big boulder for the front yard. But when it arrived, it was 10 times the price she expected, so she told the guy to take it away. He said he couldn't, so he just dropped it off and left. It was a 2-3 ton boulder, so when Kay tried to roll it, it wasn't going to happen. David was four at the time, and told Kay to "use the jacker-upper." Kay used the car's jack, and sure enough, she could jack it up, push it over, and it would roll. Eventually a guy driving by in a truck saw what she was doing and hooked a chain to it and pulled it where she wants. You can see the boulder by the curb in this Google street view.

At one point Don bought a brand new red Volkswagen from the showroom floor. As soon as he had paid and signed the papers, he turned the key and it smoked and the electronics all burst into flames. (I think the company probably took care of it.)

Kay and Don Merrill, December 1960.

In our next episode, Don & Kay move to Moraga. Then Danville. Then back to Moraga. And have a 25th and then a 50th anniversary!