GARNER - Merlyn L. Borchers, 81, of Garner died Tuesday (November 25, 2008) at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit in Mason City.

Funeral services will be held 10:30 A.M., Saturday at Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church in Garner with Rev. Frank Beaty officiating. Burial will be in Concord Township Cemetery in Garner with military rites by the Garner Veterans Ceremonial Unit.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 P.M., Friday at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel, 160 E. 4th St., in Garner and will continue one hour prior to services at the church.

Merlyn LuVerne Borchers, the son of John and Mabel (Hein) Borchers, was born March 25, 1927, on a farm north of Garner. At an early age he moved with his family into Garner due to his father's illness. His father John passed away in 1934 at the age of 34. Merlyn attended school at Garner and at Bellevue, NE. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served his country during WW II in the Asiatic Pacific Theatre as a seaman second class. On June 1, 1956, he married Mary Lu Kobliska at Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church in Garner. Merlyn worked in Garner at Ace and Bill's, Hancock County Co-op Oil and drove transport for Bock Oil for ten years. Merlyn then worked as custodian for Garner-Hayfield Community Schools for ten years before retiring from Iowa Mold Tooling in 1990 after seventeen years of employment.

He was a member of Zion Evangelical and Reformed Church in Garner where he had served as a deacon.

Merlyn is survived by his wife of fifty-two years, Mary Lu, of Garner; three children, Karen (David) Reich of Mason City, Marsha (Ronnie) McCammant of Marshalltown and John Borchers of Garner; four grandchildren, Jennifer Naughton, Jill (Brad) Bartlett, Tracy Reich and Kasey Reich; a sister, Betty (Lyle) Katter of Bend, OR; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; step-father, Earl Henschen; and sister, Marguerite (Gordon) Upmeyer.
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