Wondering why we keep calling Edd Squid?

When Rory and Ben were about to be born (thus making Edd and Beth grandparents for the first time), Beth was hemming and hawing about what the boys should call her (Grammy Beth, Grandma, etc.).

Edd, in the truest of Edd fashions, stated that “They can call me Squid for all I care…”

It’s the type of off-the-cuff comment that usually goes unnoticed. Chris did what any good son with a sense of humor would do and he ordered onesies for his twins that simply read - “I ❤️ Squid”. And it stuck. For the last 15 years of his life, Edd’s immediate family referred to him almost exclusively as Squid, jokingly as Squidward, or as Archie loves to refer to him simply as Squid-boy.

The name will forever be a term of endearment. And we even have a special place to visit when we need a good memory of Edd. Attached is a photo of Beth (she settled on Grammy btw) sitting on the bench at Squid Row on the boat docks of Menemsha Village on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. If you’re up for amazing people watching, active commercial fishing / lobster boats, AND the best lobster roll on the island at The Galley (also known as the house next to where that old grumpy shark killer fisherman guy from Jaws lived), you should check it out.

- Ian Merritt 9/1/2022

Don’t You Give Me No Dirty Looks

Those who knew Edd know that there wasn’t a lyric once heard that he could not repeat.  That did not mean he could sing them. Gravel-voiced Bob, an erstwhile Hibbing, Minnesota hockey player, would have sued Edd for malpractice, defamation, and crimes against the larynx and harmonica had he heard Edd singing in the wind.
That would not have stopped Edd.
So, to celebrate Edd without having to listen to him or his harmonica, here are two of his favorite lyrics.

Sha Na Na: "Grease for Peace" album
Yakety Yak*

Take out the papers and the trash
Or you don't get no spendin' cash
If you don't scrub that kitchen floor
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)

Just finish cleanin' up your room
Let's see that dust fly with that broom
Get all that garbage out of sight
Or you don't go out Friday night
Yakety yak (don't talk back)

You just put on your coat and hat
And walk yourself to the laundromat
And when you finish doin' that
Bring in the dog and put out the cat
Yakety yak (don't talk back)

Don't you give me no dirty looks
Your father's hip, he knows what cooks
Just tell your hoodlum friend outside
You ain't got time to take a ride
Yakety yak (don't talk back)

Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak
Yakety yak, yakety yak

*Edd’s notes. This was Sha Na Na’s cover of the Coasters 1959 hit. The name Sha Na Na was taken from the 1957 song, “Get a Job,” by the Silhouettes.

Edd was pals, or maybe distant acquaintances, with Bowzer, Lennie, Big Bopper, Richie, Jocko, Screamin’ Scot, and Dirty Dan when they were all at Columbia University in the 1970s. Edd said he was not invited to be part of the group because his hair was not greasy enough. Beth says the reason was that he couldn’t sing or even hum.

“Big Mama” Thornton: "Hound Dog" album
I Smell a Rat

I smell a rat, baby
I smell a rat, baby
You’d better watch out
I smell a rat

You won’t tell me where you been
Whiskey running all down your chin
I smell a rat, baby
I smell a rat, baby

You’d better watch out
I smell a rat, baby

You come stumbling down the hall
Bump your head up against the wall
Knock down drunk, that ain’t all
I know you been having yourself a ball

I smell a rat, baby
I smell a rat, baby
You’d better watch out
I smell a rat, baby

*Edd’s Notes. Willie Mae Thornton (1926-1984), better known as “Big Mama” Thornton, was a legendary, Alabama-born blues singer and songwriter. Willie Mae was in fact big, over 400 pounds. Her recording of "Hound Dog," 1952, in her album of the same name was number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and sold almost two million copies. Elvis covered “Hound Dog” in 1957. “I Smell a Rat” appeared in Big Mama’s "Hound Dog" album. 
Edd sang “I Smell a Rat” with conviction, but he lacked Big Mama’s growl.

Discography: George Bellerose - 9/15/2022

60 Years…

So how do you distill 60 years of close friendship and shared history into a suitably cogent but modest contribution to a remembrance book? I am not sure but I will do my best, and hopefully add some new material to the stories that Edd has left as a legacy for the younger generations of Merritts.

Edd and I first met as incoming newbies at Beloit College in 1962; I was a freshman and he an upperclass transfer, but we were both recruited by the same fraternity.  We bonded on the intramural touch football team for which he was a pass-catching end (what they now call a wide receiver).  Edd was lead tenor for our fraternity choral group but was also a serious student because at the time he was pursuing pre-med studies (which later on he shifted out of).  To escape the zaniness of living in the fraternity house, Edd soon moved off campus with two roommates – at the time considered a bold move for a student population that was nearly fully resident on campus.   

Edd graduated a year before I did and soon enlisted in the Navy. Three years later, I picked him up at Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco Bay where he mustered out of service, and thus began an epic 6000 mile journey together in a friend’s car which took us south to Ensenada, back up north along the coast to Vancouver, and then traversed the Trans-Canada Highway as far east as Winnipeg before dipping back down to the US. Along the way , intermediate stopovers included:  San Diego, where Edd kindly picked me up from the city jail after the local gendarmerie had determined, rashly, that I had been  drunk and disorderly the previous evening; West LA, where we were hosted by “the Diggers” (those of you under 70 will just have to look them up on Wikipedia) and caught a show at the Troubador which featured a young  unknown singer-songwriter named Joni Mitchell; and various tourist sites and pubs enroute, the most memorable of which was a  beer hall in Kamloops BC which kept you fueled by bringing a full tray of beers around to dispense  at tables to eliminate the intermediate steps of ordering and serving – why this practice never caught on more broadly has been a life-long mystery to me.  When we reached Minneapolis on our way to our final destination of New York, we dropped in at the Triangle to see Koerner, Ray and Glover, a folk blues group that Edd and I revered then and ever since.  We always did share common musical tastes, especially an aberrant vibe for bluegrass and rockabilly along with folk blues.  Some literary tastes as well, sharing an early fondness for Benny Profane and Sebastian Dangerfield which I think we both successfully outgrew as we got older and more world-wise. 

In New York City, Edd and I roomed together with a third roommate for a year in a one bedroom apartment just off Union Square until I was drafted into the Army and posted to Washington DC. A lot happened in NYC after I left, and a year later I was in attendance for Edd and Beth’s wedding ceremony. We remained in close touch thereafter,  getting together  from time to time in Manhattan, Staten Island and various home sites in Vermont up through Charlotte, a convenient choice as my wife Lorna’s sister and family had settled there as well. More recently, Edd and Beth joined another close friend, Dan Denerstein and I for destination get-togethers in Cooperstown and Saratoga Springs NY, and then Dan and I enjoyed their warm Vermont hospitality in the fall of 2019 where we cheered the Washington Nationals to a World Series championship together watching  the TV in their great room.

60 years of fond memories telescoped into 3 (maybe still too long) paragraphs doesn’t really do justice to a friendship that has long endured, but they add up to a lifetime (or roughly 80% thereof) of treasured history together that I will always cherish. Goodbye my friend, I miss you.

- Robert Voight 9/18/2022

Remembering Squid (Edd)

I figure that I have known Edd for a little over forty years. First as work colleagues at Johnson State College in the early 1980’s, and then as lifelong family friends.

We went family camping together when our kids were very very young (Jonathan was 1 year old), and also as they grew older.

When we moved down to Dartmouth, Edd and Beth helped us with the loading and unloading. When they moved to Minnesota, co-incidentally we were in Minnesota also for the summer of 1984 and visited with them there. We moved back to Vermont together.

After we moved into our house in Shelburne, Edd helped me build a covered porch to replace an original rotting deck. When Edd and Beth moved into their Charlotte house, I helped Edd prop up and reinforce the sagging roof above their bedroom. I built furniture for them, and helped them finish off their beloved lake house on South Pond in Elmore.

Edd joined me (and other friends) for a whitewater canoe trip on the Dumoine River in Quebec, flying in on a float plane with our canoe strapped to the plane’s pontoons. We family camped in the Adirondacks together, and we joined Edd and Beth for weekends at their lake house.

Since 1983 we have shared the Christmas season with Edd and Beth at annual “Christmas-tree cutting gatherings”, first organized by the Belleroses, but over the years also hosted by others in our circle of family friends. And during Covid and due to Beth’s cleverness and social determination, we gathered in Beth’s open-air “party garage” to continue our friendships even during that difficult time.

Lifelong friends. I will miss Edd.

- Will Eick - 9/20/2022

Minnesota Roots to a Vermont story…

I first met Edd in the early 1980’s when my husband, Will Eick, and Edd both worked at Johnson State College in Johnson, VT. As you can read in Will’s entry, we had many great times with Edd over the years—as well as gatherings of our two families.

But my special bond with Edd was that we both grew up in Minnesota—and ended up in Vermont.

Edd grew up in Rochester. I grew up in St. Paul. There are not a lot of Minnesotans who move to Vermont (!) so I have taken great pleasure through the years in sharing our midwestern memories. And with Edd’s fondness for storytelling and great memory for details--you can imagine the many hours of his recollections that I have enjoyed. He always told stories with that far-off gaze as he gathered old memories and then told the story with that special-to-Edd happy twinkle in his eyes.

Edd was 5 years older than I am. But we still had many common childhood memories of famous people, places, and experiences that we could share and compare. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Dinkytown near “The ‘U’” (University of Minnesota): Home of “The Scholar” coffeehouse where Bob Dylan played in the early ‘60’s. Bob Dylan was born in Duluth and grew up in Hibbing, so Minnesotans claim him as their own.

Speaking of Hibbing, that town is part of the “Iron Range” in Minnesota: Edd’s family has quite the history connected to the taconite industry in Minnesota.

The Triangle Bar (near “The ‘U’”): This was on the West Bank of the Mississippi River. Edd could tell you about the bands that played there—including the names of band members, of course.

Lutsen ski resort: Minnesota's famed downhill ski area on the North Shore of Lake Superior where Edd skied (as well as other famous skiers).

Hockey: Edd was a high school hockey player and I was a fan/cheerleader, so we each had years of high school tournaments to recall along with old arenas and outdoor and lake skating rinks.

Isle Royale in Lake Superior: travelling by ferry or boat in stormy weather to get to this remote wilderness island was an adventure. Edd spent time there in the summers with his family growing up.

Sweet memories,

- Swen (Marilyn Eick) - 9/21/2022

LOOK AT THAT SMILE!

It was an early fall morning - about 5:30 a.m. in the mid 80's when I first met Edd. He came to retrieve my son to play hockey with Ian! He continued to be the designated chauffer to and from hockey practices and games - always with a fresh brewed cup of coffee and a huge smile. I offered to drive and he'd always say, "It's on the way." Edd was always doling out happy and kind words to the boys – a true coach through and through. I thank Ian for introducing me to Edd! If not for Ian I and hockey I wouldn’t be writing this – I thank Edd and Beth for a friendship like no other. Lifelong from the beginning.
One of my favorite memories is when the boys won a championship game in Barre. They skated to a huge pile in the middle of the rink and my son was at the bottom calling out for help - Edd soared over the boards and onto the ice to rescue him! It was incredible seeing Edd race over to this mountain of boys clad in hockey gear and break it up as if this was a daily occurrence.
When I think about Edd I think about how he made a difference in my life –his greeting “Hi Eeeds”, he listened, he laughed with great cheer, he cared and shared lots of great stories – he seemed to have so many, many lives all packed into one Edd - AND he always welcomed my dogs in his home – and I’m sure heart.
“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Winnie the Pooh
Thank you for the friendship and LOVE!

Edie Brodsky - 9/25/2022