Final Salute

Merwin “Bud” McMullen was born to Durward and Zelda McMullen on Sept. 21, 1931, in Everett, Washington. He was the third of seven children. The family moved often and by the time he was in high school, they lived in Siletz, Oregon, where he enjoyed helping his mother in her restaurant.

After high school, he joined the Navy and served four years as a SeaBee in Alaska and Guam. He then returned to Oregon, where he married Mariel Smith in 1961. He soon returned to carpentry and helped build the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Oregon. By 1966, he had moved his family to St. Helens, Oregon. There he tried several jobs, including owning a service station. He started drilling wells in 1971, working for Finis McNight and five years later began his own drilling business.

Eventually he had his two sons working with him. After seventeen years of drilling wells, he retired and sold the business to his sons. After retirement, he bought a RV and he and his wife went to Arizona with his brother, Bill, to play golf and be a tourist for several winters. Bud also enjoyed his houseboat, where he fished and pursued his hobbies of leatherworking, making purses, billfolds, and belts, and making artwork with his scroll saw.

In 2007, he moved back to Deer Island and enjoyed making a garden every year and helping to can fruits and vegetables and making wine. He also liked to mow the grass, take walks with his dog, and read books on his Kindle.

He is survived by his wife Mariel; daughter Marjorie Curkendall; sons, Arthur and Scott; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and sister Ardith Davis of Arkansas.

There will be a family service.