Charles “Chuck” Joseph Mertz was born May 10, 1939, in Springfield, Illinois to John Andrew Mertz and Esther Marie Mogle.
He graduated from Springfield High School, and after serving in the U.S. Army, he graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a master’s degree in botany. He was employed at Menard County as health department administrator and later was employed by Illinois State as an administrator in the Long-Term Nursing Care Department.
Throughout his life he enjoyed music and singing and often performed in his early years in the Springfield Theatre Guild productions, Springfield Municipal and Opera Companies. Charles (Chuck) was also an avid horticulturalist and photographer. His latter years, he wrote a book “The Reluctant Medium” regarding his research and studies of Patience Worth and Pearl Curran. It will be published by Archway Publishing Company later this year.
Chuck is survived by his wife, Dr. Georgia Davis; his stepdaughter, Jessica Davis of Melbourne, Florida; his sister, Marilyn Mertz of Bloomington, Illinois, and cousins and friends.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to: the ISO Guild of Bloomington-Normal music scholarship endowment, Heart of Illinois Community Foundation (heartofillinois.org), 101 S. Main St. #400, Decatur, IL 62523, Sangamon County Animal Control, 2100 Shale, Springfield, IL 62703, or the Missouri Historical Society, 225 S. Skinker Blvd., St. Louis, MO. 63105.
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