Interviewer: Jennifer Lee
Interview Date: April 19, 1979
Location: Peavy Hall, Oregon State University
Duration: 1:32:08
Merryman begins by describing what he knows of his family history. Of his grandparents, he only knew his maternal grandmother. She moved out to Oregon from Illinois in 1887 with her second husband and nine children. He admits that he knows very little about his mother’s family and almost nothing about his father or his father’s family. His grandmother and her family settled in Philomath, but he was raised in Corvallis. He had six siblings, of which he was the middle child.
He then talks about his childhood memories of Sunday picnics and the places where he and his siblings used to play. He recalls the first car in Corvallis, a Model-T Ford, and he remembers that he used to watch the car’s owner crank it up to get it going. He then mentions a few of the businesses and buildings that he remembers in downtown Corvallis during his childhood.
From there, Merryman talks about hiking and playing in McDonald Forest as a child. The forest was much more extensive then and his Boy Scout troop used to camp out at an abandoned lumber mill. The children used to play in the flume and ride it down until it dumped them out. They would also climb to high viewpoints at night to watch the town lights and the airmail beacons.
The final major topic of the interview is Merryman’s memories of the circus that came to Corvallis once a year. It included one main tent and a number of sideshow tents. Merryman always got a job at the circus, helping to put up and take down the tents, so he got free entrance to the shows. He particularly enjoyed the live animal acts, and recalls that the elephants used in the shows were also made to help with the unloading and loading of tents and other equipment.
Carl Merryman was born in 1909 and raised in Corvallis, Oregon. He attended the South School grade school, Corvallis High School, and Oregon State Agricultural College, all in Corvallis. He entered OSAC in 1929, with a major in engineering and a concentration in aeronautics. He later switched to mathematics and education, and subsequently built a career as a 9th grade math teacher. He passed away in 1999.
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He then talks about his childhood memories of Sunday picnics and the places where he and his siblings used to play. He recalls the first car in Corvallis, a Model-T Ford, and he remembers that he used to watch the car’s owner crank it up to get it going. He then mentions a few of the businesses and buildings that he remembers in downtown Corvallis during his childhood.
From there, Merryman talks about hiking and playing in McDonald Forest as a child. The forest was much more extensive then and his Boy Scout troop used to camp out at an abandoned lumber mill. The children used to play in the flume and ride it down until it dumped them out. They would also climb to high viewpoints at night to watch the town lights and the airmail beacons.
The final major topic of the interview is Merryman’s memories of the circus that came to Corvallis once a year. It included one main tent and a number of sideshow tents. Merryman always got a job at the circus, helping to put up and take down the tents, so he got free entrance to the shows. He particularly enjoyed the live animal acts, and recalls that the elephants used in the shows were also made to help with the unloading and loading of tents and other equipment.
Carl Merryman was born in 1909 and raised in Corvallis, Oregon. He attended the South School grade school, Corvallis High School, and Oregon State Agricultural College, all in Corvallis. He entered OSAC in 1929, with a major in engineering and a concentration in aeronautics. He later switched to mathematics and education, and subsequently built a career as a 9th grade math teacher. He passed away in 1999.