Woodrow Selkirk Mertens

Woodrow Selkirk Mertens (Woody) died suddenly and peacefully on February 2, 2016, aged 96. Born October 26, 1919 in Miami, Missouri to Henry and Elizabeth (Fray) Mertens, he was the youngest of six children. Woody graduated from Fulton, Missouri high school in 1937, and earned his BA from the University of Missouri and a Master’s in theology from the University of Chicago. It was in graduate school that he met his wife, Marcia Ruth Gurvitz, who was then completing her Master’s degree in microbiology. They were married on May 30, 1947 and had celebrated 67 years of marriage at the time of her death in 2014. Theirs was a true and loving partnership in which they shared passion for family, friends, travel and social justice.

During World War II, Woody served as an officer in the U.S. Army where he requested assignment to a racially integrated unit. Later, as a probation officer, parole agent and rehabilitation counselor for Alameda County and the State of California, he focused on helping young men at risk. Through his amateur radio hobby, he assisted in disaster preparation and recovery. Right up to his death, he was still baking bread and picking berries to make jam for his friends and neighbors. Woody was a man of great integrity: he lived his values even when no one was looking, and gave generously of both time and money to many charities.

Woody was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Marcia, brothers Henry, John, Joseph and Carl Mertens, and sister Elizabeth Roesler. He is survived by his son Jeffrey and daughter Joann, their spouses Mardi Sicular Mertens and Steve Kink, four grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, a and many wonderful nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to either the Northern Alameda County Amateur Radio Emergency Services (NALCO) at http://www.nalco-ares-races.org/ (P.O. Box 574, Berkeley, California 94701), or the Southern Poverty Law Center at https://www.splcenter.org/ (400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104).