Mervin Wendell (b. 22 March 1908; d. 3 November 1973) was the older surviving son of John and Nellie Peters Feddersen, brother to Donley Fim Feddersen and to Robert, who died in infancy and is buried with the parents in the Bassett (NE) cemetery. Mervin is buried in Freeport, IL, in the Military Section of the Oakland Cemetery.
Mervin was a great favorite of ours for his gusty good humor. He was married twice, first to Agnes McLaughlin at Agar, SD, 5 October 1935, and then to Charlotte Pearson 9 May1959 in Boone, IA, after Agnes' death in 1958. I thank Charlotte (misspelled by Grandma Fern Koftan on the photo) for supplying much of this data. They had two children, Sven (b. 13 March 1960) and Sara (b. 19 August 1963, m. John Ed Bowling 12 October 1991). I'm forwarding everything below to Charlotte, who quite coincidentally lived in the same complex as the son-in-law, Mike Kruse, of Lindsey and Pat Ellingson (he married their elder daughter, Jill) in Boone, and again I thank her for her help.
First is his 1931 Commencement Program from Springfield (SD) State Normal School, the title for teachers training colleges. Springfield is close to Niobrara, NE, just on the other side of the Missouri River from my home county. His brother Donley and Mom, Velma, went to Wayne State Normal (Wayne, NE), which became Wayne State Teachers by the time I got there, and is today simply Wayne State College with programs far beyond teaching.
I suspect but don't know that this photo is from that time.
He obviously did very well in the Navy, as the following photo and clipping prove, and I have mentioned previously that Grandma Fern Koftan, his aunt; Mom (Velma Luckert), his cousin; and I visited him at the Navy Recruiting Center in Sioux City, IA, where he and Agnes lived when I was growing up. I know they had lived in San Francisco for a time because his car had the strongest, sudden brakes I'd ever experienced, and that was why, so that ever after strong brakes meant San Francisco hills (and Mervin) to me. We also visited Agnes' gracious family in Sioux Falls, where her parents lived next to a railroad; we met various members, though the only one I recall is her albino sister, the first time I had ever met one; and they took us to some wonderful park with all kinds of ornamental rocks like rose quartz and geodes in a miniature setting (rockhound that I have been), the third vivid memory I have of that visit.
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