Elliott Merrick
Elliott Merrick was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of a New York-commuting executive. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, Merrick took a job as a reporter with the Passaic Daily News. In 1928 he became assistant
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Elliott Merrick was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the son of a New York-commuting executive. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University, Merrick took a job as a reporter with the Passaic Daily News. In 1928 he became assistant advertising manager for the National Lead Company, his father’s company, but Merrick seemed to have nature in his blood and, in 1929, he left the business world behind and joined the Grenfell Mission in Labrador, Canada, as a summer WOP (Worker without Pay). He loved Labrador and its people and was able to stay in the region by taking a teaching assignment for the Mission in Northwest River. It was there that he met and fell in love with the Mission’s resident nurse, Australian-born Kate (Kay) Austen, whom he married in 1930. They lived for a brief time in a small cabin near the current site of the huge Goose Bay Airport. After a number of adventures in Labrador, the Merricks returned to the United States, living in New Jersey and Vermont during the middle of the depression. Elliott Merrick later taught English at the University of Vermont. He is the author of seven other books, including the best-selling Northern Nurse.
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