Mr. Hilda M. Merrifield

Mr. Merrifield completed a machinist apprenticeship at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, was soon promoted to a machinist and rose to the position of superintendent of the inside machine shop.He enjoyed 35 years at PSNS and retired in 1970.

He was very active in Boy Scouts of America, especially Sea Scouting, both as a youth and leader, spending 18 years as skipper of the Sea Scout Ship "Sea Venture."He continued in scouting after moving to Bremerton in 1956, first as district chairman of the Kitsap Council, then as scout commissioner of the Olympic Area Council.He was presented the Silver Beaver Award for distinguished leadership to boyhood in 1952.

Mr. Merrifield was a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, having served as worshipful master of Green Lake Lodge 149 in Seattle in 1952, then as worshipful master of San Juan Lodge 175 in Friday Harbor in 1977 and as secretary for several years.While living in Gig Harbor in 1987, he became a dual member by affiliating with John Paul Jones Lodge 271, serving as secretary from 1992 to 1996.

In 1994, he was elected honorary past master of the Gig Harbor Lodge.He also had been a 32nd degree Mason of the Scottish Rite Bodies, Valley of Tacoma, a member of Bremerton Elks 1181, a life member of the Bremerton Yacht Club, a life member of NARFE Chapter 181, a 50-year member of Nipsic Lodge 282 I.A.M. and a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Merrifield was preceded in death by his father in 1984, his mother in 1982; and his brother, Reginald A. Merrifield.