Merl 'Doc' Cantwell, 75

Graveside services with military honors for Merl W. "Doc" Cantwell, 75, of Thornfield, will be held at noon Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, at Thornfield Cemetery. A reception will be held following the services at 6 p.m. at the VFW Post on HH Highway in Isabella.
Mr. Cantwell died Sept. 4 at Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Arkansas. He was born Jan. 31, 1940, in Hammond, the son of Ota and Vera Ware Cantwell.
Mr. Cantwell attended high school at School of the Ozarks in Point Lookout until his junior year. He transferred and graduated from Gainesville High School in 1957.
In 1960, he married Lorene Mook in Beaufort, South Carolina. Following her death in 2007, he married Fern Berger in 2010.
Mr. Cantwell was born and raised in Hammond, where his parents and grandparents owned the Hammond Mill until Ota Cantwell was killed in an auto accident in the 1950s when Merl was a teenager. His parents had divorced, and after his father's death, Merl sold the mill and surrounding properties, finished high school, attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City as a pharmacy student but didn't finish, and then joined the Navy. He spent the next 32 years serving his country all over the world in hospitals, aboard ships and submarines, and twice in Vietnam on helicopters as a Marine Corps medical corpsman (medic), where he received the nickname "Doc."
He loved the Navy and volunteered for everything, everywhere. While serving as a submarine medic, he wrote medical training books in his spare time. He was also a medic with the 2nd Battalion Force Recon (Marine Corps Special Forces).
He was nominated to become the Command Master Chief of the Navy before retiring in 1990. He was the most decorated U.S. Navy Corpsman (medic) at the time of his retirement.
After he settled back in Ozark County, he spent much time volunteering at the local VFW Post in Isabella. He enjoyed being of service to others and mentoring young people with whom he felt he could make a positive impact. He will be greatly missed by his family, friends and community.
He is survived by his wife, Fern Cantwell, of the home in Thornfield; his sons, Greg Cantwell of Thornfield and Al Cantwell of Mexico; his daughter, Kim Cantwell of Rome, Georgia; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, foster children, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Lorene Cantwell; his son, Randy Cantwell; and his Denise Cantwell.
Arrangements are by Clinkingbeard Funeral Home, Gainesville, MO.