emerkel
Joined Atlas Obscura in 2019
Eddie Merkel is the eldest son of a Kansas farmer's son and an Oklahoma accountant's daughter. He led a very sheltered life until the age of 15. It was then that Gulf Oil, the employer of his Kansas farmer's son father, transferred his whole family to Luanda, Angola.
Eddie was too old for any of the English speaking schools in Luanda, so Gulf Oil sent him to boarding school in Leysin Switzerland. School in Switzerland and exposure to people from all over the world, as well as getting to travel extensively was a significant change from what he was accustomed to. As a result, Eddie went a little crazy. He's been just a little crazy ever since.
Cursed by a rabid interest in everything, Eddie could never settle on a major in school. Because of this, he did not finish college, but that does not mean his education ended. An avid reader and autodidact, Eddie is still auto didacting himself about new things to this day.
During a stint in the U.S. Army, Eddie met his wife Mireille, and she has heroically stuck with him through all his craziness for over 37 years. Together they have raised three astonishing kids. The kids have all moved out on their own now. As a result, Eddie and Mireille are enjoying their new found freedom. They are now living as old teenagers, exhibiting only slightly more sense and spending vastly more money than most teenagers do.
