Merwyn "Merv" Clair Trachsel

Merv Trachsel passed away on Wednesday May 1st, 2024. He is survived by his children Lucia Sorria, Joe Trachsel, Walter Trachsel, Natasha Trachsel, and Augustus Trachsel, and his girlfriend Wendy Johnson. He is also survived by his brothers Rene Trachsel and Ruce Trachsel, and his sister Myra. As well as his grandchildren. Merv was born in Portland Oregon on November 20th, 1950. When Merv’s father Dave passed, he was 12 years old. He took over as the man of the house while his mother, Gloria went to work as well. He worked a paper route and continued building the house that his father had started, while going to school, and doing his best to help the family. Merv often described those as difficult years for him as he struggled with the loss of his father. He tried to be a father to his two brothers as well, but at around 16 years old he followed his own path.

It was not long before Merv moved out of the house and reportedly visited his siblings very rarely, coming home with his family to visit during holidays. Merv worked at IBM for many years creating software and doing maintenance on mainframes. He moved to New York in the late 80’s with his then wife Cheryl and worked for IBM there. Two of his children were born while he lived in New York and after he became concerned about work layoffs with IBM he returned back to Oregon. He then had two more children, one of whom sadly passed after only 19 days. The loss was difficult on his wife and he ended up with the children to raise alone. Merv answered by taking his children everywhere, job interviews, the junk yard, job sites; wherever he went, the children went. He did not rule with an iron fist but everyone always commented and laughed about how he would not say a word, but raise his finger in the air, and the children would be quiet. It was during this time that he and Laurie were together and they raised the children together for 15+ years.  

Several years later, Merv became a long-haul truck driver and bought a Kenworth. He still owns this vehicle and it has almost 1 million miles on it. One of the few things Merv boasted about at all was his truck and how it never left him stranded a single time, survived rolling on its side, survived a fire, and still drove to this day. In an effort to keep his family close to him, he packed his entire family on that truck and took them with him while he worked as a truck driver. When the children eventually got older, he ended up driving truck alone.

Over 20 years ago, he stopped driving truck and worked on DSL, home computers, and other IT related businesses. Eventually he went back to his original career and started in disaster recovery. He really excelled in this field and dedicated himself to his work. He worked for a few companies but he was very loyal and hard working. It was not about the money to him, it was about helping others. One of his employers recently stated that for the past 20 years if there was any employee (or group of employees) who could not fix an issue within his industry, they sent Merv. Merv was the last resort for any service call of this nature in the United States and he would respond at a moment’s notice and fly out to wherever it was needed. He had a 100% success rate and he always fixed the issue. We believe he had a photographic memory as he had many of the manuals for IBM mainframes and processes memorized, to the page and the line on the page. Merv seemed to know just enough about anything you could imagine and was always willing to give advice or lend a helping hand. He could fix anything it seemed, from vehicles, to lawn mowers, car stereos and other electronics, personal computers, mainframes, laptops; the list goes on and on.

Merv’s commitment and loyalty to his employer and work ethic extended into his personal life. He was friend and rescuer to his family and his friends as well. He would drop everything and find a way to be there for anyone who needed it. He had a huge heart and rarely asked for anything in return. We all are feeling the hole he left in all of our hearts and lives, as well as the industry he left. The world is a little less bright without Merv in it. He passed in the way he always joked he would, working and on a business trip.

If you would like to come and pay your respects to Merv and say goodbye please feel free to attend the following events. 

Celebration of Life:

Date: Saturday May 25th

Time: 1PM

Location: Shalimar Estates, 765 S Pacific Highway, Woodburn, OR  97071

Go Fund Me for Funeral Costs https://gofund.me/a25743a3

Please route Memorial Contributions and Condolence Cards to Riverview Abbey, 319 S. Taylors Ferry Road, Portland, Oregon, 97219. (503) 244-7577 

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