CANON CITY, Colo. – Merlyn Arthur White, 85, of Canon City, Colo., joined his heavenly Father Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, at Pikes Peak Hospice Unit, Penrose Hospital, Colorado Springs, Colo., following a tragic accidental fall July 18 in Canon City.

Merlyn was born Dec. 2, 1926, in Brookings, Brookings County, S.D., the eldest son of Glen A. and Florence M. (née Atkinson) White of rural White, Brookings County, later of Rural Route 4, Dixon. He was christened in the Episcopal Methodist Church in White, S.D., and baptized in the Methodist Church in Harmon. He married Dorothy Mae Millhouse of Dixon on May 16, 1947. Rites were solemnized at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Dixon by the Rev. George Curran, pastor. Merlyn married his second wife, Alvina E. (née Pauketat) Sauzek of Brownsville, Texas, on June 19, 1985, in Boise, Idaho.

Merlyn graduated from Dixon High School, in the class of 1944, and was drafted in March 1945 into the Navy. He served 1 year, 5 months and 2 days during World War II in the Asiatic-South Pacific theater, attaining the rating of WT3/c aboard USS Iolanda AKS 14. As a reservist during the Korean War, he was recalled to active duty and stationed at the Recruit Training Center in San Diego.