Merle Scott West was born in 1886 in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, where he studied civil engineering at Cornell College. He graduated from Cornell in 1909 and moved to Douglas County, Oregon, where he became involved in surveying and timber cruising, and married Emma Jane Osterman. Shortly after they moved to Klamath Falls, where Merle West worked for the Long Bell Lumber Company. Merle West and some of his partners organized a new company, Big Lakes Box Company, which expanded its lumber-related businesses over the years. Merle West was part of the Klamath Falls Rotary Club, becoming its President from 1928 to 1929. He served as a director of the Klamath Falls School District, as a member of the City Council for two terms, and as a director and officer of the Klamath County Chamber of Commerce. Due to Merle West’s contribution to the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, it changed its name to the Merle West Medical Center. Merle S. West died in 1983. His estate went in part to form Merle S. and Emma J. West Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships to graduates of Klamath County High Schools.