Verne was the youngest of three children born to LeRoy Charles Merrill & his wife, Dorothy Mae Bishop Merrill. On 16 June 1940 in Lincoln, Lancaster County Nebraska, he married Joyce Gannon. Together this couple would have one child, who died of polio at the age of five. Verne was a decorated Veteran of World War II, being wounded twice. The original photograph shown was given to me by my grandmother, Hazel Alice Merrill. I am in possession of it still.