Who was Nick Merriman?
In Memory of Nick Merriman
Written by: His Mother, Kathleen Merriman Schaefer
Nick was born the youngest child of Clinton D. and Kathleen M. Merriman on November 14th 1968..
Nick was the perfect baby.
He was a wonderful gift and always had a wonderful little smile..
Nick's brother Jim was 2 1/2 when Nick was born and his sister Kim was 16 months
old when Nick was born.. I was just eighteen when Nick was born so we kind of all grew up together..
Nick had a heart of gold. .Even when he was a small child of five I remember having a horrible tooth ache and lying on the couch crying and my little Nick came home from school and sat on the couch beside me and patted my back and said "it will be ok mommy".. "I love you mommy" It was a memorable moment.. He had his little red shirt and red, white and blue checkered pants on.. That was his favorite outfit and looked very good on him with his white hair!! He always wanted to make everything better for people.. If someone needed money Nick would give his last $5.00.. He cared about people and he did not care about their social status.. All he cared about was that they were good people that needed help.. He was loved and respected by many.. Nick was the owner/operator of the Mirror Lake Java Hut.. It is another of his accomplishments that I discuss below.. Nick would go out to the car of a regular customer in the morning and carry the baby n for her so she could get her coffee since he did not have a drive thru.. He would give coffee and hotdogs to one of the workers from next door as he stated he had no money to buy lunch.. When Joshua was born Nick put a note on the door that he was closed to have a baby.. His customers decorated the Java Hut outside with balloons and congratulations.. When Nick opened the doors the next day there was a line of customers out the door coming with presents for Nick and Tonya's new baby, Joshua.. Nick could not believe the outpouring of affection his customers brought.. Nick's kindness and big heart he wore on his sleeve.. People appreciated him for that.. I love him and am very proud of him for his kindness and big heart..
Nick loved to sing.. He started singing Elvis in the shower when he was five.. I never paid much attention to Elvis until Nick started singing his songs, and I grew to love the songs and his singing.. He was always so excited to participate in activities where he could sing.. He went to a local "Gong" show once.. Daunting a black Elvis wig and fake sideburns.. Getting "Gonged" did not slow down his singing.. He was determined to keep singing.. He tried out for the boys choir at the Lutheran church in Federal Way.. He was accepted to the choir, however, he did not enjoy the type of music they indulged in so e dropped out.. He however, kept on singing.. Nick sang and his dad played the guitar often when his dad was alive. Nick had a Dedication 2001 CD professionally done after his dad died.. Nick's feelings and emotions were brought out through his singing more than his talking.. Although, he was a talker also.. You could always tell how he was feeling by the songs in his heart.. Nick stayed up all night one night to participate in a radio promotion at the Emerald Queen Casino, A tribute to Elvis. There would be two prizes of $500.00 awarded, one for look best look alike and one for best singing.. Nick being Nick had to go out and rent an Elvis outfit and wig.. He practiced all night. The first part of the contest was the best look alike.. Nick won that.. He was so disappointed to hear that, since he won the look alike that he could not participate in the singing portion of the contest... He nicely tried to talk them into allowing him to give the $500.00 back so he could sing.. He couldn't convince them to do that..
Nick always had a wonderful sense of humor and liked to play jokes on people.. He played soccer as a young child.. His dad was the coach of the team.. Nick enjoyed entertaining the on lookers rather than taking the game too seriously.. Some of the parents that were very serious didn't enjoy it, however, he always made me laugh.. And, Yes, his father did quit couching the team after one year.. The saying "families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts" Nick was sweet, but also a nut.. Not in a bad way at all.. Just in that you never knew what he may come up with next... Nick always liked to call people and he could change his voice so your didn't even know it was him.. He pulled this stunt on all family members at one time or another.. It would always be something like he was calling about us owing someone money, so he always made it seem like a serious matter, the calls could go on for a half hour or so till he got you so worked up then he would start laughing..
Nick always had a dream and a one tracked mind.. When he decided to do something he did it.. This started at a very young age.. When we moved to Washington from California my half sister Betty and her husband lived in Seattle.. I had never been very close to them but we visited them after moving here.. Her husband was John Hoberg, Officer Friendly on the JP Patches show.. None of Nick's classmates believed that Officer Friendly was Nick's Uncle. This started Nick's quest to prove his classmates wrong.. To prove to them that he would never lie.. Nick took it upon himself to contact Uncle John and the task of convincing him that he should be a guest with Officer Friendly on the JP Patches show.. Between Nick's convincing communication skills with his uncle and Officer Friendly's pull they made it happen.. Nick let his teacher know that he would be on the show and his classmates got to watch him on TV that morning.. If I remember correctly Nick was in first grade when he conquered this accomplishment.. It was only the beginning.. Nick had always said since he was a little boy that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up.. So it was not a big surprise when Nick told me he was going to become a Federal Way Recruit Firefighter.. I was so proud of Nick on December 4th 1991 when he completed his training.. This was a very labor intensive, physically and mentally challenging training.. He was shining at his graduation.. We were so proud of him.. Nick was with the department for some time.. They had him be the Departments Santa one year as they drove thru neighborhoods in the fire truck surprising the young children with Old St. Nick.. Nick worked a full time job during his time with the department and the volunteers were on call... He took special training for "First to Arrive"... It was after that that Nick was on a call where a man in his forties had a heart attach with his wife and small children in the house.. Nick and his team did everything they could but the man did not survive.. Nick could never get that horrific scene out of his mind.. The kids and wife crying and the emotions of those moments broke his heart and he dropped out of the Federal Way Fire Departments Volunteer Program.. That was a great disappointment to him but he moved forward.. He thought from time to time about going back to the Fire Department however, he never did.. When Nick decided he wanted to propose to Tonya he decided he was going to take her to a surprise dinner, at the Space Needle, rent a limo to pick her up and have an airplane fly around the Space Needle with a sign "Tonya, Will You Marry Me" Since he didn't make a lot of money I thought, oh right, and then wouldn't you know the next thing I knew I was at the Space Needle watching it all come together.. He even rented a tux for this occasion.. The entire Space Needle joined in the applause and good wishes.. He was so proud.. As was I.. Nick was a hard worker.. He worked in warehouses for most of his life.. Running machines, picking orders.. He worked at Seattle-Tacoma Box company for twelve years.. He worked at Oberto Sausage, Cascade Sonoco and Expediters.. His last job at Superior Imaging he was a truck driver.. This is when his injury occurred.. During his short life he also worked independently.. He started a Paint Company.. Painting the outside of houses.. He was always very good at whatever he did.. There are still three houses in our neighborhood that Nick painted, and although it has been fifteen years or so they still look great.. Due to the financial constraints of being a small business owner he closed the Paint Company and went back to warehouse work.. Nick's next entrepreneurial event occurred after Tim and I got married.. We decided to start a dive service, doing hull cleaning, maintenance and zincs.. Nick decided he would like to work with Tim.. Nick first went right to work designing business cards for Serendipity Dive Service. He did a beautiful job.. He made the cards stand out even from to top of the dock as he designed it as a divers flag, red and white and had the print and a diver on the cards.. I still thought he would never do it.. I told Tim, right, Nick would never jump into muddy water or touch the yucky growth on the bottom of a boat or on a prop.. Nick was always very concerned about germs, so the pollution in Puget Sound and on the bottom of boats I was sure would not "float his boat".. What do you know, before I knew it Nick had completed his dive certification and was out scouting for customers.. His first big customer was George Weyerhaeuser.. He met him at the marina when he was putting cards on the docks.. He had a fifty foot boat.. Nick scheduled his hull cleaning and zincs.. Just happened that Nick scheduled the work at time when Tim and I would be celebrating the Christmas holiday on our boat in downtown Seattle.. Needless to say about fifty phone calls later from Nick to Tim, with Nick wanting to do a perfect job, Nick completed the task and George Weyerhaeuser remained our customer until we closed our business.. Nick however, had bigger dreams.. He and Tonya were going to open a coffee shop. So was I ever surprised when Nick called to tell me one day that they got financing.. He had rented a little space in Federal Way and he was going to call it The Mirror Lake Java Hut.. I thought "oh my".. He had to do a business plan.. When he showed me the space I thought "oh my" again.. He and Tonya pulled it off.. Nick worked tirelessly day and night to bring this little space together.. He had this little dirty let go space to work with.. He painted the walls red.. Put in new floors.. Made his Coffee Menu on a beautifully decorated black board.. Had a palm tree here and there a stuffed parrot and painted the front of the building and put up a sign that he designed that would light 312th Street up for about a block.. He turned this ugly space into the warmest little coffee shop I have ever been in.. And then I asked, who is going to make the coffee.. Since Tonya was working at Virginia Mason it was decided that Nick would be the Barista.. Oh My again I thought.. It took Nick a lot of coffee testing to decide he was going to use Cafe Darte coffee.. It won over Tully's.. I was his first customer on opening day and he whipped me up a grand drink.. He never failed to surprise me.. I love coffee so had it not been good I would not have spent my $300.00 per month coffee budget there.. It was not unusual to go there and have a line out the door.. His customers loved the Java Hut and Nick as I mentioned above what they did when Joshua was born.. Nick was the best Barista.. Nick and Tonya decided to close the Java Hut after sixteen months in business as they decided Tonya would leave her job at Virginia Mason to care for their pride and joy Joshua and they were not quite at a point with the Java Hut that they could make it on just that income..
Nick was all about family.. Very loving and loyal.. Nick was heartbroken by the death of his father in 2000.. He spent months working on a CD dedicated to his dad.. Singing his heart out in memory of his dad.. After Nick's dad died Nick very lovingly uprooted his and Tonya's lives and moved himself and Tonya in with me so I wouldn't be alone.. His dad and I had been married for 36 years, so Nick just had to be there with me.. They lived there for several months.. From the time Nick and Tonya married to the time Nick died there were very few days that I didn't get a call from Nick.. At the last he would sometimes forget to call me so I would call him.. He was not only a loving son, but my best friend.. He always took care of me.. When I met my current husband Tim, Nick was very concerned that he may be a murderer or something.. Tim and I had arranged a boat trip to Port Orchard for a Fairliner Rendezvous.. Tim had a Fairliner boat and I had a Reinell boat.. Nick hated boating.. He however, took the day off work to go with me in the boat to Port Orchard.. It was pouring down rain and he was soaked by the time we got docked, but he was there to check everything and everybody out.. He got a room at a nearby Motel and
had Tonya drive up to be with us.. He hated being out in the rain, but participated in the evening events to make sure I was safe.. He called his sister Kim and had her and her husband Steve come the next day to check everything out.. Oh My.. He was so loving...
The proudest moment of Nick's life was when his son Joshua Keaton was born.. Josh was the love of his life.. I had never seen Nick so proud and excited in my life.. Unfortunately, Nick's injury occurred when Josh was very young.. Nick felt so bad that he could not play with his son like he would have liked to due to the injury.. Nick had his surgery December 18th, 2006.. He was in excruciating pain but called Tim and I on the day before Christmas Eve and asked us to go find Josh a big riding train set.. He was unable to go shopping and I think maybe Tonya thought Josh was a bit young for this particular train set.. So off Tim and I went.. I thought Oh My.. This should be interesting.. Low and behold we found one at Sears.. Called Nick and it was just what he wanted for Josh.. So we got it and took it to their house.. Nick called me crying one time after his surgery, he was in pain from the injury but more sad that he couldn't pick Josh up and hold him in his arms.. He did it in spite of the pain many times.. He did manage to have a wonderful relationship and instill his love into his son even though they had such a short time together.. The last time I saw Nick and Josh together Josh put his little arms around his daddy's neck and whispered in his ear "I love you daddy".. Nick in spite of his condition replied, I love you too Josh..
Nick loved snow and always had to live in a house with a water view.. Although, as I mentioned above he hated boating.. But he LOVED looking at the water.. Which of course always made their rent a little higher as, he had to have a water view.. He would find these cute little houses with water views.. His favorite little house was on Mirror Lake.. He and Tonya rented the house a couple of times over the years..
Nick was a Christian and loved God.. For some time in his last days he carried a small bible in his pocket.. One of his last songs which I cherish was "I Praise The Lord Cause I Saw the Light" Nick was a very honest person..
Nick was a very private person.. Only shared his deepest feeling thru his songs.. Nick was a very proud person..
Nick was a very trusting person and was also very trustworthy..
Nick had more than his share of disappointments, heartaches, struggles and pain.
He recovered gracefully and beautifully from them all except the last chapter. He was not able, physically or mentally to recover without professional help and he had no help.. The pictures I have sent were not done professionally, as you can see, however, they show how by December 2007 and January 2008 he had deteriorated physically.. He had lost a lot of weight.. He had aged incredibly fast.. His mental status had deteriorated as rapidly...
There is so much more I could write about "Who Is Nick".. He was and is a jewel..
Nick was not perfect.. None of us are.. I was blessed to have him in my life for 40 years.. He will always be in my heart.. He will always be in my head.. And I will always love him forever..
Kathleen Merriman Schaefer