Donnie Gerald Merchant

Published 12:00 am Friday, July 13, 2012

Services for Donnie Gerald “Snoopy” Merchant will be held at 10 a.m. on
July 16 at Simpson Baptist Church in Simpson with Sandra Hillman Wallace officiating. Interment will be held at Pine Island Cemetery in Simpson under the direction of Labby Memorial Funeral Home.
Visitation will be held from 4-9 p.m. on
July 15 and from 8 a.m. until the time of service on Monday at the church.
Donnie Gerald Merchant, 68, of Simpson passed away on July 12, 2012, at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas.
Donnie was born in Alexandria to J.Z. and
LaVera Merchant. He attended Simpson High School and went on to play baseball for Northwestern State University. He was employed by the United States Postal Service and became the youngest postmaster in U.S. History at age 19. He retired as
postmaster at Simpson after 30 years. Donnie was best known to his friends as “”Snoopy”” from his early dirt track racing years in central Louisiana and won several state championships. He also enjoyed hunting and fishing.
He was preceded
in death by his parents, J.Z. and LaVera Merchant; sister, Pattie Ruth Merchant and step-daughter, Ashley Nicole Cutts.
Those left to cherish his memory include his wife, Lisa Boswell Merchant of Simpson; two daughters, Tammy Merchant
Standifer (Greg Standifer) of Simpson and Donna Busby Fairchild (William Fairchild) of Simpson; one son, Kenny Merchant (Wendy Merchant) of West Monroe; one stepson, Heath Cutts of Simpson; and seven grandchildren, Traci Standifer, Neil Standifer,
Kyle Busby, Hope Merchant, Ben Merchant, Brayden Cutts and Skyler Cutts.
Words of comfort may be expressed to the Merchant family at www.labbymemorial.com.