Randy Merrell was born and raised in Vernal Utah. Born in 1950, and raised on a horse ranch; where he learned to be a jack-of-all-trades. After graduation from high school he attended Utah State University at Logan, Ut, planning on a career as a veterinarian. He soon learned that his ADHD brain was not a good mix with the university classroom. Plus it was nearly impossible to get into vet school from Utah. There were only 17 vet schools in the country at that time. Randy also spent two years in Brazil as a missionary for his church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After much frustration Randy decided on a career as a Bootmaker; but there was far less training available for that! January of 1974 he traveled to Lynn Massassutuchets to attend the Lynn Independant Industrial Shoemaking School. After completion there he returned to Utah where he married his love; LouAnn. Together they purchased a shop full of equipment from a retiring Shoe repairman in Salt Lake City, Ut, and relocated the equipment in a workshop on his father's ranch--and “hung out his shingle.” Randy and LouAnn were the only ones in the community that thought they would still be in business by years end. It is now 45 years later--and the business is still alive and well.
Soon after, Randy attended class at Oklahoma State Tech, Okmulgee in their Bootmaking program to become specialized in Western Bootmaking--what Randy perceived to be their greatest market in Utah. He had now completed all of the formal training available in the US in shoemaking!
The assumption was that people would be willing to pay for well made boots, that fit well, made from leathers of their choice, to their design. Custom. Custom fit, custom design, custom made. Well; that was a part. The greater part was people unable to get what they NEEDED in a store. Their feet were wider than the boots in the store, or they had a bunion, or a lump on their instep where a horse stepped on them, or whatever. Well, wide could be made, an accommodation for a bunion or a lump could be made. But what about the pain on the bottom of the foot, or under the heel, or the big toe joint that was painful when flexed. Or, the leg that was two and a half inches shorter than the other. Then there were the birth defects; the club foot, or diseases such as polio! Things came in the door that Randy had not been trained to handle: and there was simply no place to go to get that training. Also he had clients asking for types of boots that he did not have lasts, equipment, or experience to make. Hugh Frustration. Then there were his fathers words from years earlier, still ringing in his ears; telling him that bootmaking was a stupid idea!
The habits and mindset from his youth kicked in! He had learned to finish trimming the horses hooves, even though the animal weighed 10 times more than he did and that the horse really, really did not like what he was doing. And to keep hauling hay until every bale was out of the field. And to keep digging post holes until you get to the end of the pasture. And keep working on the pump until water is flowing even though it has been dark for three hours!
Randy looked for bits and pieces of knowledge wherever they could be found. He made friends with suppliers and learned from them. Visited with tanners to learn about leather. Traveled all over the US visiting with boot and shoemakers. Many were unwilling to share anything (Randy even had oldtimers tell him things wrong to send him down a dead end street!)--but often they would open up and bits and pieces were learned. Also associated tradesmen such as saddlemakers could be learned from. One time he made a trade with an old timer: Randy taught him to make slip on boots (like western boots) and the old timer traded with Randy how to pattern and stitch lace-up boots like Packers and Loggers.
Then came the crazy chapter of the Merrell Boot Company where for 5 years Randy was traveling to Italy and Germany 4 times every year working with boot manufactures, designing and troubleshooting. An enormously instructive time. There were men there that took Randy “under their wings” and treated him as though he were their son. Alfonse Meindl, Tony Vello, and Francesco Gazziero.
Also during this time Randy started teaching bootmaking. For years he had been receiving calls and visits with requests to teach. Randy started conducting 2-week bootmaking seminars, which were enormously popular. As students asked; Why? And How? Randy had the opportunity to dig deep, ask, ponder and figure out How and Why. Through the 25 years of teaching; the teacher learned the most.
There were other significant chapters, as well. Keeping the machines, especially the sewing machines, running well was a continual challenge. Randy sought training as a sewing machine mechanic and became proficient. At Lynn Shoe School he had been taught the rudiments of shoe and boot pattern making. This is a craft that is not considered to be part of bootmaking, but rather a job in and of itself. With practice, with teaching patternmaking as part of the classes he taught, and with working with the boot manufacturers in Italy and Germany he became an expert pattern maker. Also, lasts are a continual challenge for bootmakers. Randy had purchased many thousands of surplus factory lasts that gave him stock that could be readily modified into custom lasts. Additionally he learned methods of making lasts from casts of feet; and even the skill to take impressions and measurements of feet and simply take a block of wood to a band saw and a belt sander; and come out with a workable pair of lasts. These are all skills that very few bootmakers have.
August 29, 2008. Another “Game Changer!” Randy became Sick. All day long in the Emergency Room; test after test: in the end he was diagnosed with West Nile Meningitis. He was flat down for 6 weeks, and when he started back to work just able to see one client for 45 minutes, which was a full week's work. He could stand and work at his bench for 8 or 10 minutes; then rest and catch his breath for 45 minutes to be able to go back for another 8 or 10. Randy pushed himself hard, but it was 5 years before he felt he was “back to normal.” Actually there are still some residual deficits. People die from West Nile, especially those with Encephalitis or Meningitis.
The shift from Bootmaking to Pedorthics was more real now as he had little energy to do the physical work of making boots. There was a period of about 10 years during which Randy only made a total of only 12 pairs of boots. Randy had a long list of people desiring boots, and he realized that only so many could and would be made the rest of his life. Once again Randy entered a difficult time in his life. After almost having lost her husband LouAnn felt that she deserved Randy’s time. Randy wanted to get back to making the boots which had been such a strong passion for much of his life.
Also Randy was looking to the future. All of his sons were now pursuing other careers. Following their dreams. Randy had been on the “look-out” for someone to take up in his tracks. It is rare to find someone with the integrity that can be trusted to fully care for clients needs, to care for a workplace, to be dependable to show-up. Even more rare to find someone with the talents in their hands to comfortably use hand tools and machines to do a job. Far more rare than all this is to find someone with the “eye” to see nuances in gait and posture.
April 15, 2017; a third “Game Changer.” Randy, LouAnn, their daughter-in-law Julie and her son were backpacking in the Grand Canyon. As they were crossing a creek in mid-thigh deep water LouAnn and the 14 year old boy lost their footing and were washed down the creek. Neither survived.
Just a very few weeks prior to this event Randy had met Preston Barker. A 22 year old which had grown up in Vernal--whom Randy had never met. They had “chance encounters,” three times in 3 weeks. Randy connected the dots and asked Preston for a meeting. An arrangement was created whereby Preston was spending his two days off work each week “shadowing” Randy as he saw his Pedorthic clients. It soon became evident that not only was Preston enthusiastic and very curious about this very atypical kind of work; he was incredibly intelligent and had an eye for spotting anomalies in clients gait, much like what Randy had seen Peter do years earlier. Preston had worked during his High School years for a building contractor and was skilled in using tools and machines to build things, and the necessity of being precise. He had been an athlete in his school years and had learned the value of hard work and perseverance. Preston had been raised in a farm situation and had learned the lessons of doing chores, of being persistent and dependable. He too had served a mission for his church; two years in Sweden.
All of a sudden Randy had his replacement that he had looked for, for years! The timing is curious; had this “chance” relationship happened earlier, with LouAnn’s desire to minimize the commitments Randy was taking on; she would have insisted on no new commitments. Had Preston shown up after her death Randy would have already closed the business.
Randy has kept coming to work, and Preston very quickly learned the knowledge and skills needed to be a powerful pedorthist. In fact, within 13 months after starting full-time at Merrell FootLab he had completed the “exposure hours,” need to set for the exam, the course work needed, and had passed the exam to become a Certified Pedorthist. All with flying colors!
Additionally Preston has been quick to learn the work of modifying shoes and boots to make them functionally correct for our patients, and does a good job of it.
The original agreement between Randy and Preston was that he would be taught Pedorthics, not bootmaking. Preston was curious as Randy would do boot work. Randy learned that as a very young boy Preston was always curious about shoemakers. From time to time he would see a cartoon showing a shoemaker hammering on a shoe and Preston would be curious about what the shoemaker was doing. Once again he was curious about what the shoemaker was doing.
Randy relented on the original agreement--and Preston has now made several pairs of boots and is well along the way to becoming a Master Bootmaker.
