She’s lived the traveler’s lifestyle

June Merkel, a California native born and raised in San Francisco,

had never left the state until she started working in corporate

America. Merkel, 88, traveled the globe as an employee of Bechtel

Corp., one of the top engineering and construction firms in the

nation. She swore she would never be a country-club wife -- that is,

until she met her late husband, Frank Merkel, who was an avid golfer.

Now she’s a member of the Santa Ana Country Club. When she got

married for the first time at age 50, she retired and moved to Costa

Mesa, where she started volunteering for Hoag Memorial Hospital

Presbyterian. She has worked with the Hoag Hospital Auxiliary for 30

years in just about every department. She spends a lot of her free

time playing bridge and enjoying her garden, which was designed by

Roger’s Gardens. The Daily Pilot’s Lindsay Sandham recently met June

Merkel to hear about her life as a career woman and a hospital

volunteer.

It’s interesting to me that you were a corporate career woman,

because this was some time ago, before women were so openly accepted

in the workforce. You must have been somewhat of a pioneer.

Oh, of course ... It was something else. It was a magnificent job.

Did you go to school for business?

No, I didn’t go to college. All my friends did ... but I didn’t

go. I went to work. So that’s how that happened, that’s where I

learned all about the rest of the world. I’d never been out of the

state of California.

Did you travel a lot for your job?

Yes, I did.

What’s your favorite place that you’ve traveled to?

I love Copenhagen. I love the Scandinavian countries. Everybody

thought I was Scandinavian -- that’s why I think maybe I love the

Scandinavian countries.

In 30 years as a volunteer at Hoag, you must have done just about

everything for the Auxiliary.

Well, I did an awful lot. I took a lot of different jobs. I worked

at the blood bank for a lot of years ... and then I took over the

thrift shop -- Hoag Hospital had a thrift shop at 17th and Pomona, and I ran that for about 10 years. Now I’m in the Hoag Hospital

warehouse. Once a year, we put on an auction, and I am the

auctioneer, and we auction off all the collectibles. We are going to

have a garage sale on the 20th of August at our warehouse. The

auction is in November.

You must really enjoy the volunteer work, seeing as how you’ve

been doing it for 30 years.

Well, I’ve had to do something -- what would I do with myself? I

do belong to several bridge groups, and I like the performing arts,

that kind of stuff.

And now you have a beautiful garden, your own private sanctuary

that was designed for you by Roger’s Gardens.

It was amazing what they did. It’s a different lifestyle; I’ve

never had a lovely garden.