An occasional look at former Loomis Chaffee community members whose work helped shape the school.   

Frank Merrill often asked students in his classes to write a short rhyme concerning an aspect of mathematics they had been studying. A compilation of the unedited versions — Rhymes From My Students, 1976–2010 — is part of the Loomis Chaffee Archives collection. And who said math could not be fun while you’re learning a ton? 

“I told them it could be humorous, but it had to be about math,” Frank recalled in an interview recently. “I’d have them read them in class. Many years later, I thought it would be fun to put them together, so I made a little booklet for the archives.” 

During 38 years at Loomis, from 1974 to 2012, Frank taught math, served as department head for nine years, was director of studies for five years, and coached various teams. He and his wife, Alice, who retired in 2006 after 22 years as a French teacher, lived in five different campus houses before buying their own home in town. Frank was named Teacher of the Year in 2008, and in the 1980s UConn honored him as a teacher. When he received the notification from UConn, Frank thought it was a joke, he said in a 2012 issue of Loomis Chaffee Magazine. “Did everyone get one of these?” he wondered. 

Everyone does not get one of those. Frank did. He taught advanced geometry for each of his 38 years. He also taught calculus. He had always enjoyed math, so he set about trying to help his students enjoy it too.  

There once was a square 

Who sat in despair. 

He didn’t know what to do. 

People called him a rhombus, rectangle and parallelogram too. 

To this he replied, “That’s not fair. 

I’m a square and a square is a square.” 

That was the work of Scott Barger ’89, who co-founded multiple companies after getting a bachelor's degree in economics and Asian studies from Colgate University in 1993. 

Reached by email recently, Scott thanked us for putting a smile on his face. 

“I'm humbled my verse was worthy enough to be included among the ones he saved,” Scott wrote in an email. “In truth, I don't have a specific memory of composing that particular rhyme, but it totally sounds like me. I've continued to craft silly rhymes for cards and notes throughout the years. Perhaps I missed my calling as a children's book writer.” 

“Mr. Merrill had a gift for making geometry fun,” Scott continued. “I remember looking forward to his class and laughing at his math jokes, which I'm sure were cringeworthy at times even then. Reflecting back, his passion for the subject matter and patience trying to teach young minds like mine the deductive reasoning skills to do mathematical proofs was undeniable. I remember the satisfaction of ending proofs with ‘QED’ and would say those rational thinking skills have served me well in the abstract since.” 

Well, indeed, as an entrepreneur.  

In the archives sits another publication by Frank, The Mathematics of the Sundial, which speaks to his love of math and curiosity about nature. 

“Sundials are fascinating; they are unique, and they are easy to create,” he wrote. “... Unlike the watch, or other mechanical time pieces, which can be produced in large quantities and sent all over the world to be used, the sundial must be designed and constructed for a particular location. If a sundial is moved to a latitude other than the one for which it is designed, it will not show the correct time.” 

His publication was designed to allow the novice to construct an accurate sundial. In it, he thanked former Loomis Chaffee science teacher Keith Palmer for his help. Frank also thanked LaVerne Wood and Frances Lewis for their 1936 article in The Mathematics Teacher that led to Frank’s interest in the mathematics of the sundial.  

By the very act of how they teach and who they are, teachers can change a life. Just ask Scott Barger. Just ask Frank Merrill himself. His publication on the sundial includes a thank-you from Frank to one of his former teachers.   

“Howard W. Eves,” it reads, “kindled in me a love for mathematics that has sustained me throughout my career. It is he who encouraged me to delve into the history of mathematics and to write.” 

Frank was a math major in college, and he said he was fortunate to have Mr. Eves as a professor at the University of Maine. Mr. Eves was known for his work in geometry, a subject for which Frank had a passion, and was a leading historian in mathematics, writing multiple books. Mr. Eves also was an editor of a monthly mathematics magazine. When Frank was a senior in college, Mr. Eves asked him to write about the mathematics in Gulliver’s Travels, a classic novel.  

“I read it over vacation,” Frank recalled, “and wrote an article and gave it to him, and he published it in the mathematics magazine, and that got me into the history of math and writing things like that.” 

Writing, and not just about mathematics, has been an interest of Frank's. When his grandchildren were young, he wrote a few 12–15-page booklets about a detective agency in which the grandkids solved problems. One of those grandkids, his 14-year-old granddaughter, now enjoys writing. 

For years Frank and Alice have owned a few cottages in Maine not far from where Frank grew up in Rockland. Over the years, the cottages have kept him busy as he was the jack-of-all-trades keeping them in shape for renters. 

He does miss teaching, though. He taught for five years before spending 38 at Loomis. 

“I taught until I was 74. If not for the students, I would not have lasted that long,” he said. “They were eager, smart, they put up with me. I miss them.” 

Same goes for the faculty. 

“I was always amazed at how smart the faculty was,” he recalled. “I told them when I retired that I was so lucky. Where else could a country boy from Maine rub elbows with the intellect in that room?”