Heritage Snapshot: Part 139

The residents of Hayfork, California, had many reasons to love, respect, and admire Dr. Earl Mercill (CME class of 1950). Because there was no local vet he sometimes stitched up the wounds of their injured pets and even farm animals. Dr. Mercill’s “stressful but enjoyable” practice included making house calls in the snow and toting his black bag from his home in the pitch black of 2 a.m. One of his daughters, Danene Mercill, a dentist in Anderson, California, reports that she never heard him complain about being called out in the middle of the night. He once made an 11-hour house call for a man dying from cancer and never sent a bill. On another occasion his “charge” for seeing a child during a house call was a piece of birthday cake. For many years Dr. Mercill conducted free grade school and high school sports physicals and free examinations for personnel in Hayfork’s volunteer fire department. His community service also included conducting stop-smoking clinics, health fairs, and blood pressure, lipid, and glucose screenings. Each year his presence drew many people to a church-sponsored health awareness booth at the Trinity County Fair where visitors received literature and invitations to join cooking schools and participate in health screenings. In January 1983 the bridge in front of the Mercill home washed away during a severe winter storm. To provide a temporary crossing, mill workers placed logs across the turbulent Hayfork Creek. The situation was downright precarious. Dr. Mercill had to balance as he went across, the logs moving up and down as he walked. His neighbors marveled that he would go out on house calls in the middle of the night, hanging on to a rope with a medical bag and flashlight in one hand. He never fell into the river. After about a year, Hayfork residents chipped in to help Dr. Mercill buy an out-of-use bridge from Junction City for $8,000. The bridge had to be moved 40 miles in two sections each 17 feet wide, 60 feet long, and 17 feet high. An article by Jim Dyar, a reporter for the Redding Record Searchlight, quoted Mariane Mercill as saying, “We feel safe now. [The new bridge] carries a big load.” The author added: “A lot like Mercill himself.” To further demonstrate their appreciation, the residents of Hayfork honored Dr. Mercill as citizen of the year with a dinner in the nearby County Seat of Weaverville. At times he served as Grand Marshall for the Trinity County Fair parade. The community’s greatest tribute was a 1994 ceremony to erect a 13-foot-tall, $9,000 clock tower in the Town Square with his name engraved on it for the “Time” Hayfork’s lone “Doc” had given to the community. About half of the community turned out for the dedication. The inscription says, “In honor of Dr. Earl C. Mercill, for all the time he has dedicated to the community of Hayfork, November 1994.” “He’s on call all the time. There’s no such thing as a day off for him,” said Diane Glass, a member of the clock’s fund-raising committee. “I don’t think there’s a family around who hasn’t called him at odd hours. He’s very humble and very modest, and he always gives one thousand percent.” Over the years Dr. Mercill became a legend in Hayfork. Once during a draught he converted one of the two bathrooms in his clinic into a shower to be used by local people whose wells had run dry. He once accompanied the victim of a serious log loader accident in a helicopter ambulance being flown to Redding. The man’s wife, Liz Hoaglen, manager of the Sierra Pacific Mill, the town’s primary employer, says that Dr. Mercill went along not really to administer care, but to be with him. She reported that he didn’t want her husband Jack to die alone. “Best thing about being a small-town doctor is you can know patients on a personal basis,” said Dr. Mercill. “I think anybody’s happy when they feel like they’re needed in their job. It’s a satisfying experience to know people appreciate your work.” Because he did a lot of counseling, he believes that psychiatry was as much a part of his practice as sewing up gashes. Dr. Mercill routinely made house calls for the elderly and severely ill and met patients at his office all hours of the night and on weekends. Even after retiring in 1998, he continued to make house calls and work part time. In 2000 the Loma Linda University School of Medicine Alumni Association chose Dr. Mercill as one of four honored alumni. In 1966, when the Mercills moved to Hayfork, there was no organized church or church building. With a burden to spread the gospel, the Mercills conducted Bible studies in their home through the years and helped to build the Hayfork Seventh-day Adventist Church in the late 1960s. The Hayfork church now has a membership of about 100. A 50th Anniversary book on the CME Class of 1950 stated that Dr. Mercill, “has brought distinction and great honor upon his alma mater and to the Class of 1950. His and Mariane’s service epitomize the reason for the very existence of the College of Medical Evangelists/Loma Linda University School of Medicine.” Dr. Mercill was identified by Mary Jane Tait, wife of former Pastor Myron Tait, as “a real inspiration and an example of Christianity with ‘skin on.’”