Merritt Romans has played at various things all his life and, now almost 82, he is still playing and having fun.

Some of his earliest memories are of playing "Spit" (a card game) with family members when he lived on the corner of Third and Race streets in Lampasas. Each put 25 cents in the pot, and they played seriously and competitively.

Merritt was born Aug. 8, 1926, at Lometa, where his dad owned a grocery store and two farms nearby. Sadly, his dad died when Merritt was 11 months old.

He remembers his mother, Edna Romans, telling him the Masonic Lodge, where his dad had been a member, offered to find a placement for the children in one of their homes for orphans. His mother's reply was, "Only if we are starving."

Because of his mother's indomitable spirit, Merritt never felt deprived. She was capable of handling widowhood and raising six children with the help of the older ones.

Mary was 20 when Merritt was born; Rosella, 16; and Joe, 12. The younger children -- Tom (5), Ruth (2) and Merritt -- had lots of love and supervision.

Merritt Romans and his great horned owl worked together frequently. When Merritt was 5, Mrs. Romans sold one farm to the Head family and moved her brood to Lampasas at the Third Street location where she lived until she died in 1967.

He remembers his mother as full of energy and optimism. She rented two apartments in their big house and owned a filling station. To supplement her income further, she collected bills for Pfeiffer Plumbing.

Back in those days, before credit cards, everyone charged their groceries and other necessities so collections were important to the success of a business.

Mrs. Romans, in later years, kept the nursery at First Baptist Church and babysat privately. Merritt remembers Carol Northington (now Wright) and Kay Carpenter (now Boone) as among his mother's favorite children to babysit.

Merritt said his mother had a strong personality and never hesitated to spank him when necessary. On the other hand, their door was always open to the neighborhood children, and pets filled the back yard.

Here, Romans shows off some of his extensive collection. The family once had a coon, a skunk and a fox along with the domesticated dogs and cats, he recalled.

When his older sisters got married, his brother-in-laws -- especially Leonard Nickles, who married sister Joe -- assumed the big brother role. Merritt remembers many nights when they had boisterous card games with everyone participating except one brother-inlaw who did not enjoy playing cards and used the excuse that he had to sit on the porch and watch for "the law" so he could warn the gamblers inside.

Merritt went to work dusting cans and delivering groceries for Key Brothers Grocery. He also mowed yards and helped Mr. Abney of the Lampasas Leader deliver newspapers. His best job, as he recalls, was helping G. Word Smith deliver the San Antonio, Dallas, Waco, Temple and San Angelo newspapers.

They met the train at 4 a.m., and Merritt threw the papers standing on Mr. Smith's running board.

His most unique job was setting rat traps in the attic of the home of a prominent Lampasan. He also worked at Jimmy McGehee's service station and at Lampasas Steam Laundry making deliveries.

Merritt remembers his high school days as being just about perfect, with plenty of coon hunting and fishing to fill his days. Companions on these jaunts were usually the Canales boys, John B. Davis and Jake Myers -- along with Little Sheba, the Canales' trusted dog. Merritt thought the academic side of high school was just something one had to endure.

As for sports, those he could get excited about, due to the coaching prowess of Curtis Bozarth and Sam Fowler.

Highlights in high school were playing end on the LHS football team and in the 1943-44 school year winning district, and playing center on the basketball team, which also won bi-district the same year. Merritt recalls thinking, at that time, he would like to stay in high school forever. Some of his teachers thought he just might do that.

He also recalls playing golf on cotton seed greens at the old country club on Nix Road.

Merritt said no buses took the players to out-of-town basketball games, so Coaches Bozarth and Taylor and Lampasas residents Weldon Pharr and Clyde Young often drove them in their private cars.

Merritt should have graduated in 1944, but he stayed another year to play football.

Then in the fall, he was drafted into the Army and reported to Fort Sam in San Antonio.

From there, he was sent by troop train to Fort Hood for 14 weeks of basic training. He can remember sneaking off on weekends to Lampasas every time he got a chance.

In February of 1945, he joined the 40th Infantry Division in the Philippines. After World War II was over, his were the first troops assigned to Korea, where he felt the GIs were appreciated for their contributions.

He remembers helping them to haul grain from their fields and to improve health and sanitation conditions. There, Merritt made sergeant, but the war was over and in 1946, he was discharged.

Back in Lampasas, his life turned more serious when he finished high school and went to work for two years for the William Cameron Lumber Co. But what really matured him was meeting Betty Blackwood. Right after she graduated from high school in 1948, they were married at First Methodist Church with Carolyn Harmon and John B. Davis standing in for them.

After marriage, they enrolled at North Texas University in Denton. Merritt chose physical education as a major because he hoped he could keep having fun playing with the boys; Betty majored in home economics.

They were so committed that they graduated in three years. Then later, they both got their master's degrees; Merritt, at North Texas, and Betty at Texas Woman's University.

The Romanses took their first jobs at Forsan, near Big Springs, a community supported by an oil company. Their housing and utilities were paid, and Merritt moonlighted by driving a school bus and acting as custodian in the building where he taught. He also coached, and Betty taught home economics. After two years, he became principal of the high school and served for 14 years.

He also found another interest where, in his leisure hours, he could have fun. Merritt discovered birds of prey. A great-horned owl and a hawk that he kept in their backyard (Betty wouldn't let them in the house) became his daily companions. He says nothing was as exciting as watching those big birds soar through the air and land on his arm.

In 1959, one of the happiest events of his life was the birth of daughter Rita Lynn. Now Merritt had another playmate. When Rita was just a toddler, she used to say all her daddy ever taught her was to tie her shoes and to deal cards.

When the family moved to Fort Worth in 1964, he had to give up his birds because they weren't allowed in the city so he donated them to the Fort Worth Zoo. He visited them for a while but it wasn't very gratifying because they seemed to stare at him as if to say, "What have you done to us?"

In the Everman school district in Fort Worth, Merritt worked as curriculum director until Betty was offered the job of state adviser to the Future Homemakers of America.

They settled in Seward Junction, where she commuted to Austin, and Merritt taught biology and science in Taylor for one year before taking his favorite job: elementary school principal.

He had willing playmates with the students every school day for 14 years, he said. While he was having all this fun, Betty became a member of the National Advisory Board of The Future Homemakers of America, based out of Washington D.C.

This new job required Betty to travel a lot. While she was gone, Merritt and Rita Lynn kept the home fires burning and found plenty of time to play with pets and, at night after Rita's homework was done, to play card games.

Merritt says one of the most rewarding things he has done was being involved in the Georgetown Lions Club, where he served on the District Cabinet for six years and received three awards for creating new Lions Clubs. He is a life member of the Lions Crippled Children's Camp in Kerrville.

In 1993, he retired and settled down to more fun: raising goats and cattle. He also built a golf course on their place with nine tee boxes and four sand greens, and Betty became an avid golfer.

She later expanded her skills while RV traveling with Merritt and managed to stop frequently at courses across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The same year Merritt retired, Rita married Ed Brown, whom she had met at Tarleton State University. Merritt swears he didn't retire at that particular time, expecting Ed to take care of him.

Rita and Ed produced three more playmates for Merritt. Their sons are Jeremy, now finishing up at Sul Ross State University where he played on the baseball team, and the twins, Nathan and William, now at Texas A&M. Merritt had exciting years when the twins played football for the Lampasas Badgers.

When he had taught earth science, Merritt got interested in rocks and minerals. Both he and Betty became so interested that they joined the Austin Gem and Mineral Society and traveled all over the country in their travel trailer, collecting rocks and playing golf.

In 2007, Merritt was named a Patron of the Gem-Mineral Federation of America.

In 1990, they moved back to their hometown and bought a home nine miles out of town on the Nix Road and, most importantly, built a huge warehouse to display their rock and mineral collections.

Many Lampasans have enjoyed the experience of a carefully guided tour by Merritt, who can exclaim over every rock.

In 1999, just when they were having the most fun, Merritt said, Betty contracted cancer and died in August of that year, just one day before his 73rd birthday.

Merritt has carried on, as one with his background would have been expected to do. His days are busy. He conducts tours of his rock collection, is a member of the American Legion and serves on the board of the Keystone Square Museum, where he has organized a collection of information about war veterans of Lampasas County.

He also works as a receptionist at the Methodist church and washes dishes after their annual chili luncheon. Chefs Milton Boone and David Millican won't let him in the kitchen until after the cooking is finished. He also conducts lectures about his rocks and minerals in classrooms in this area.

All his siblings except Ruth have died. She lives in Georgia, and they get together every year to go to William Holland, a school for rock hounds, at Young Harris, Ga.

There are still lively games of "Spit" with Rita Lynn and her family, and with nieces and nephews when they are in town, and Merritt also gets together with various 84 groups, which usually include Dorothy Duncan and other friends.

He was pleased recently to be invited to play 84 with a widows group.

Merritt said I forgot to tell about other of his fun activities. I apologize that I have left out stamp collecting, which he has done since he was a child at Lampasas Elementary School, running in the mile race during Spring Ho and playing golf every week.

Way to go, Merritt!

Bobbye Alexander Behlau was born in Lampasas and graduated from LHS in 1946. After living in San Antonio for 50 years where she was an elementary school principal, she and her husband, Joe, have retired in Lampasas.

She is a descendent of the Alexanders and Davises who settled here in the 1800s. She can be reached at 556-4076 or at bbehlau- @earth-comm.com.