OBIT: Doris Rae MERKEL and Beverly Lou MERKEL, 1944, Fairhope, Somerset County, 
PA  

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Meyersdale Library.
Transcribed and proofread by: Richard Boyer.

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
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Two Girls Fatally Burned in Their Fairhope Home

  Doris Rae Merkel, 14, died last Thursday in Allegany Hospital, Cumberland, the 
result of burns suffered on Dec. 9 when a coal stove exploded at the Merkel home 
in Fairhope.  Her death was the second to result from the explosion, a sister, 
Beverly Lou, 12, having died the day following the accident.
  The clothing of both girls was showered by a flaming fluid when Doris 
attempted to hasten a fire in the kitchen stove.  The two girls were preparing 
to get supper in the absence of their widowed mother, Mrs. Hulda (Richardson) 
Merkel, who has been working in a defense plant in Cumberland.
  John Merkel, four-year-old brother of the two fire victims, suffered burns 
about the hands when he attempted to beat out the flames on a rug on the kitchen 
floor.
  Doris Rae Merkel leaves her mother, and these brothers and sisters: John, 
mentioned; Alma, Shirley, Donald and Lee, all at home; Victor, Cumberland, Md.; 
Dewey, Harry and Darris, all in the armed forces; Mrs. Helen Nair, Somerset, and 
Mrs. Betty Hoffman and Mrs. John Dietz, both of Hyndman.
  Funeral services were conducted at 2 o'clock Saturday afternoon at the Zeigler 
Funeral Home by Rev. C. W. Evans.  Interment in the Comps Cemetery.

Meyersdale Republican, January 4, 1945