proud and loving father & husband, world champion bridge player, lawyer, proud Choctaw, builder/ contractor, veteran of the Korean War, world traveller, restauranteur, great writer, wonderful friend, Mervin had more skills than the average mortal man.
http://www.mervino.com/window/indian/M4gens.html here is his website:
http://Mervino.com he built victoria house for the Rice folks. bought the land, lived in san pedro long ago with a true love for the island and the wonderful people who lived there then. they told him "don't buy this land, itsw way too far from town. no one will EVER go this far for a hotel". Guess he knew better, huh?
he played bridge with the best in the world. his brain simply handled complications marvelously. and he got to stay in the finest hotels in the world on the bridge circuit.
he opened Mervins Hole in the Wall in San Pedro after helping to build Victoria House and introduced San Pedranos to American hot dogs and yummies. Lotsa folks who are 40-50-ish now had Mervin for their first boss. He introduced me to many many folks on the island that i never would have come to know well if it wasn't for him.
learned to build websites at about 70 years old, and built a Korean veteran website that has brought great memories and friends together over the years.
recently we spent some time with google earth comparing the hills he and his friends fought on now and then. we got old war maps and figured out which hill was hill 117, hill 134, little nori, big nori, etc. old friends and fellow vets from around the globe worked together on this.
most of all he was a great friend. i have known him for probably 8 years, since i read his wonderful essay on building Victoria House.
http://Mervino.com/window/bestbird.html . We started emailing each other, we learned html together. he was one of the finest men i have ever met. and one of my best friends.
love you mervin. see you again one of these days. look out for all of us on the planet still, and put in a good word for us when we come your way.
peace and thanks for the wonderful wonderful times we shared.