Merlin Eisenbarger

Funeral services for Merlin K. Eisenbarger, 71, of Grove, Oklahoma, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday, December 22, 2010 at the Warren-McElwain Mortuary-Eudora Chapel.  Burial will follow in the Eudora Cemetery in Eudora, KS.  He died on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at St. John Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO.

He was born on September 14, 1939 in Martinsville, MO, the son of Lloyd and Emma Hook Eisenbarger.  He moved to Eudora, KS with his family when he started the sixth grade.  He graduated from Eudora High School in 1958. He and his wife, Patsy, moved from Eudora to Grove, OK, to live on Grand Lake of the Cherokee, in 1983.  They later moved into town.

Merlin began his career as a meat-cutter for Dillon Stores and then later was the owner of Merlin’s Hy-Klas Grocery and Merlin’s Ice Company in Eudora.  After moving to Grove, OK, he owned the Grove Beauty Supply for 20+ years.

Merlin was a member of the First Christian Church in Grove, OK.  He was a member of the Grove Moose Lodge, where he earned the highest honor, the Pilgrim Degree.  While in Eudora, he was a member and past-president of the Eudora Lions Club.

He was married to Patsy Kelley on June 21, 1958 in Eudora, KS.  She survives of the home.

Other survivors include: two daughters, Pamela Landon, of Neosho, MO, Penny (husband, Mike) Harrell, of Lawrence, KS a brother, Bob (wife, Dorothy) Eisenbarger, of Pittsburg, MO, an aunt, Bertha Hook, of Bethany, MO, and four grandchildren: Cliffton Eisenbarger, Wendell Landon, Bradley Harrell, and Maxwell Harrell.  He was preceded in death by a son, Merlin K. Eisenbarger, Jr., a sister, Betty Thomas, and his parents.

The family will greet friends from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary- Eudora Chapel.

The family suggests memorials in his name to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society or to the charity of the donor’s choice and may be sent in care of the mortuary.