O. W. "Whitey" Merrell
The contributions of O. W. "Whitey" Merrell, often referred to as the "granddaddy" of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, will not soon be forgotten or irrelevant. The Director of the Department of Highways when the division was formed, it was Merrell who enabled the Patrol to make its early and most vital acquisitions -- such as the first radio equipment, the barracks at Findlay, Massillon, Wilmington, and Cambridge, and the early training camp sites. Of Merrell personally, an article run in a northern Ohio newspaper probably says it best:
At one time a highway contractor himself, Mr. Merrell is fond of playing a piano late at night after a day's bickering with contractors over bids. He likes to don lumberjack shirts and sweaters and cruise around with the Highway Patrol. He smokes constantly, drinks little, and suffers from a tricky stomach which he babies with bicarbonate of soda.
Graduated from the engineering school at Ohio State University, he rose from a chief engineer to director under Gov. White. Observers, noting his friendliness with newspapermen and his flair for publicity, suspect him of gubernatorial ambitions.
Merrell left the Highway Department in 1935, but remained a close friend of the Patrol for the remainder of his life. The O. W. Merrell Meritorious Service Award, the Patrol's highest award for valor, is a fitting reminder of a man who did so much to make the Ohio State Highway Patrol what it is today.
Mr. Merrell passed away in 1987 at the age of 86.