Merlin Dale Yaste

A memorial service for Merlin Dale Yaste, 74, a Gardnerville resident for the past four years, will be at 1 p.m. Friday at FitzHenry's Carson Valley Funeral Home in Gardnerville.

Mr. Yaste died Jan. 12, 2004 at home.

He was born Aug. 22, 1929, in San Francisco to Harry Merlin Yaste and Martha Velma Billups.

Mr. Yaste graduated from George Washington High School in San Francisco in 1947 and received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from San Jose State University.

Prior to living in Gardnerville, he lived in Saratoga, Calif., for 31 years.

Mr. Yaste was a mechanical design engineer for Westinghouse Electric Co. for 35 years, retiring in 1991. He was a member of the Carson Valley Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Nevada and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and an active member of the Kerak Temple of the Carson Valley Shrine Club.

Mr. Yaste served four years as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army.

Among his survivors are his wife, Kathryn M. Yaste of Gardnerville; sons Stephen D. of San Jose and David M. of Sunnyvale, Calif.; daughters Karen A. Blackwell of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Linda M. Peel of Chesapeake, Va.; and five grandchildren.

Cremation is under the direction of FitzHenry's Crematory in Carson City.

FitzHenry's Carson Valley Funeral Home in Gardnerville is in charge of arrangements.

The family requests donations be made in Mr. Yaste's name to Shriners Children's Hospital or the Adams House Carson-Tahoe Cancer Resource Center in Carson City.