Clarence T. Mertins was born on August 17, 1929, on the Mertins Homestead in Wichita County, Texas. He was the oldest of six children born to Karl T. and Erna Clara (Muller) Mertins and passed away on December 15, 2019, in Seward at the age of 90 years, 3 months and 28 days.

Clarence attended first grade at Prairie Cottage, a rural school with only five other students, riding a horse two miles each way to school. Due to rural schools getting closed, he attended six different schools between first grade and high school. During this time he started plowing as young as eight years old and helped on the farm taking care of the animals and fields. Clarence graduated from Electra High School with the Class of 1948. He went on to attend Arlington State that fall for a semester, which was the start of what would be his travel through 13 different schools. Clarence participated in 16 different programs whether they were undergraduate, graduate, summer grant or field study programs over the next 40+ years.

He taught middle school, high school and college courses at three schools with the majority of his teaching taking place at Concordia University, Seward campus which is what brought him to Nebraska from Texas. Clarence was united in marriage to Betty Jean Hitt at Grace Lutheran Church in Burkburnett, Texas on July 3, 1953, the couple had three children. They were married for 56 years until Betty passed away on March 20, 2010. Theresa was born on October 13, 1954, just before Clarence was drafted into the United States Army on November 8, 1954 along with his brother, Milton. He worked as a clerk typist in Stuttgart, Germany from the spring of 1955 until September 14, 1956 when he was honorably discharged. Clarence returned back to Texas to go back to school and be home for the birth of his second child, Karl on October 6, 1956.

Clarence taught biology for the majority of his career with stints of chemistry and mathematics early on, although studying plants and insects were some of his favorite topics. His third child, Bryon was born on January 13, 1960 just before he began teaching at Tarleton State in Stephensville, TX, which was the first college he taught undergraduate courses at. In 1965, they made their home in Seward where Clarence began teaching at Concordia. After his teaching career ended in 1986, he went on to work at MetroMail as a machine operator for the next 11 years. During that time he and Betty made two 3 month trips to Thailand where he taught an education course to teachers there. After 20 years of living in Seward he felt the call of his inner country boy and moved out to his property "Bet Claire" at the Garland Exchange in 1986. After his retirement from MetroMail he worked part time at Zabka Funeral Home helping with the cemetery crew.

Along with his pursuit of education, as he referred to himself as a "school tramp," he enjoyed blacksmithing and was a charter member of the Prairie Blacksmith Association of Nebraska which was founded in 1985. Clarence enjoyed working with the boy scouts starting as a Scout Master in Seward at St. John Lutheran Troop #258 in 1968. He then transferred to Troop #256 a couple years later, where he enjoyed helping out until 2018 as a committed member and still had contact with until his passing. He was also a part of Fort Atkinson Living History, a historical reenactment that takes place showcasing broom making and blacksmithing starting in the 1990's until 2016. Clarence was a longtime member of St. John Lutheran Church.  He experienced many different things over the past 90 years and he would always say how incredibly blessed he was by the Lord with a full and active life.

He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Betty Jean; son, Byron; siblings, Milton Mertins, Karline Meyers and Sylvia Miller; niece, Nicole Gibson.

Cherishing his memory include his daughter, Theresa Brinson and husband Charles, Amarillo, TX; son, Karl Mertins and wife Pamela, San Diego, CA; daughter-in-law, Diana Mertins, Omaha; six grandchildren, Trey Brinson, Sean Brinson, Derek Mertins, Cameron Mertins, Eryn Lemcke and husband Kyle, Kyle Mertins; two great granddaughters, Zoey and Haizley Lemcke; brother and sister-in-law, Orville and Sharon Mertins; sister and brother-in-law, Jeanelle and Darold Reiner; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Brenda and William Gibson; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and a multitude of friends. To this obituary Zabka-Perdue Funeral Home adds our thoughts, prayers, and memories of life shared with Clarence.