Ken and Bev Merrill prefer to say they “repurposed” instead of “retired.”

Both of them retired from the State of Alaska Department of Public Safety in 1998 after 20 years of service. Since retiring, they have been fortunate to have traveled the United States coast-to-coast several times in an RV, as well as spending four years in Rwanda, Africa. They have three sons, each in a different State—Oregon, California, and North Carolina—and three beautiful granddaughters.

After retiring, the couple traveled back to their home state of Maine to help care for aging parents. In 2005, their parents passed, and they wondered what the Lord had in store for them next. They soon found their mission was to travel to Rwanda, Africa to help build an orphan village. Upon arriving in Rwanda, the 50-acre site designated for the village was forest and farmland on the side of a mountain. It took nearly two years of hard work to clear the site and build staff housing, housing units for the orphans, and a kitchen/dining hall/laundry facility. It was an extraordinary day when the first orphans and the national widows who served as house mothers were welcomed to their new homes. In 2010, the pair were deeply saddened to leave Rwanda and return to the USA after Bev had two serious illnesses that required her to be medevacked to hospitals in South Africa and Kenya.

Ken and Bev settled in Vancouver, Washington, to be close to their first granddaughter and family in Portland, Oregon. Ken went back to college to finish his degree, graduating in 2013. When their second granddaughter was born, Bev happily provided daycare for the little one until she went to kindergarten. Ken became involved in another mission, this time to Uganda, traveling there once or twice a year to oversee support for an orphan primary school in the Nakivale refugee settlement.

In 2019, their son and daughter-in-law in North Carolina were expecting a child—Ken and Bev’s third granddaughter—so they packed up, sold their home, moved into a 300-square-foot fifth wheel, and headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Bev delightedly moved into the “Grannie Nannie” position, and Ken volunteered with the National Park Service at Outer Banks National Park.

Recently, Ken and Bev have taken on leadership and responsibility for Emmaus Gospel Outreach, a nonprofit providing education and Christian training to nearly 400 orphan refugees in Uganda. Supporters of the non-profit have recently given funds to rebuild a classroom building that was destroyed by heavy rains. They are constantly amazed by how the Lord provides even before they knew of this need.

“We are very thankful for the time working and living in Alaska. It has afforded us the opportunity to serve in less-fortunate communities in the U.S. and in other countries. We are incredibly blessed of God in these United States of America.”

If you would like to learn more about how your State of Alaska retirement can allow you to enjoy a comfortable retirement, please contact the Division toll-free at (800) 821-2251 or at (907) 465-4460 in Juneau.

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