I Believe In Miracles
Happy Again
I Believe In Miracles
Melodies Divine STEREO LP1667
Happy Again
Merrill Womach
Arrangements: Dave Williamson
Cover Design: Roger Koskela Agency, San Jose, CA
Engineer: Toby Foster
Recorded in Hollywood
New Life Records NL 74-1-10
Surely Goodness And Mercy
Merrill Womach
Recorded in Annex Studios, Hollywood
Engineer: Thorne Nogar
New Life Records NL-70-1-11
I Stood At Calvary
Merrill Womach
New Life Records 73-1-9
1973
Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory
Merrill Womach
Arranged and Conducted by Dave Williamson
Producer: Paul Stilwell
Engineer: Toby Foster
Scenic Photographer: Joseph McHugh
Album Design: Linda Kay Toole
New Life Records NL 76-1-5 STEREO
1976
Happy Again & In Quartet
Arranged and Conducted by Tom Keene
Producer: Paul Stilwell
Album Design: Linda Kay
Engineer: Bob Norberg, Toby Foster
Photography by Michael Alkus
New Life Records NL77-10-12
1977
From the inside cover (I believe In Miracles): A Miracle is "an event in the natural world, but out of its established order, possible only by the intervention of divine power." Merrill Womach believes in Miracles as only a person who has experienced such an "intervention" possibly can believe. Here is his personal story. It is the story of a man who had absolute faith in his God before a horrible tragedy involved him almost to the point of no return. That faith brought him through his ordeal a stronger man, spiritually, mentally and even physically.
Merrill Womach has devoted his life to music. Since the age of six he has been singing publicly. He has par- ticipated in and directed quartet, choral and choir work since his high school days. His gift of music has developed a solo voice which has been favorably com- pared with that of the late Mario Lanza.
In 1961 he was in demand as a concert soloist, specializing in gospel music. His new business, a music service for a specialized field, was beginning to build. It was for this company that he had occasion to be flying his own airplane around the West in November of that year.
Merrill Womach is an experienced pilot. In November of 1961 he had already logged some 1500 hours as a private pilot. It was this experience that contributed to the events that spared his life.
His plane loaded with 108 gallons of high test airplane fuel, he took off from an airfield at Beaver Marsh, Oregon. The weather was cold, the ground snowbound, and the airstrip covered with a coating of slush. Only briefly into the air, his engines stopped. Literally frozen with ice, formed from the slush which had splashed into them, the two motors defied restarting in the air.
Merrill negotiated the 180 degree turn that would send him coasting back toward the field. His experience told him how to keep the plane level even without power. He glided his way back to the airstrip... but never reached the smoothed surface. Some 50 yards from safety, his plane slashed into the timber surrounding the field.
The pilot survived the crash with almost no in- juries. But immediately after the plane came to its sudden stop, those 108 gallons of gasoline barroomed into the air. Flames covered Merrill as he pulled himself out of the plane and stumbled toward the road.
As he fled, he fell several times in the snow. Those barely remembered falls apparently snuffed out the flames which had engulfed him.
The explosion alerted the residents of Beaver Marsh to the accident. Merrill was nearing the road when the first car arrived, and he was rushed to the hospital. But despite horrible burns covering most of his body, he remained conscious.
In fact, he started to sing as they headed toward the hospital. He called on the One he knew best, as he sang hymns during the trip. In the hospital, as attendants peeled his charred clothing from his body, he continued to sing.
He even insisted, right then, on making a phone call to his wife to tell her of this unscheduled change in plans and then a call to his insurance man to report the loss of the plane. All this while doctors were trying to determine how to save his life.
The flames had practically devoured his face. Swollen within a few hours to the size of a basketball, his face was a charred mass. There were, at first, no openings for his eyes-so great was the swelling.
And still he sang.
His legs were severely burned. The skin on his hands was gone-only dozens of skin graft opera- tions would restore them to apparent normalcy. In the crash itself he had also suffered a skull fracture and a minor leg injury.
Merrill Womach is a shirt-sleeve pilot. When he enters his plane, he has the habit of immediately shedding his coat as a matter of comfort. However, on this day, Thanksgiving Day 1961, he left his suit jacket on when he climbed into his pilot's seat. The only part of his body not horribly burned was that part covered by the jacket. The skin there was virtually untouched.
Eventually that area would be the source for the hundreds of square inches of skin which would have to be grafted. Why did he leave his coat on this time? If he hadn't, there would have been no unharmed skin for the necessary transplants.
His first hours were critical ones for the doctors. But not for Merrill, who maintained his state of com- plete coherency and continued to sing... hymn after hymn. But always coming back to "Wonderful Peace."
A few days after the crash, plans were made to fly Merrill to a hospital in his hometown - Spokane, Washington. He remembers now that he knew he must be getting better if such a trip were allowed. He even insisted on climbing into the ambulance plane unaided... and leaving it in the same way. But he was quickly and firmly persuaded to ride a stretcher from the plane to the waiting ambulance.
You see, his condition had not improved. It had worsened. He was in danger of losing his fight be- cause of blood clots. If one should reach his heart, the recovery might be ended. In fact, one small clot did pass through his heart and into his lung be- fore he could be rushed to surgery in Spokane. His family was warned he might not return from the operating room.
But return he did, singing all the way. As the elevator brought him from the surgical floor, his relatives and friends heard that familiar voice resounding down the shaft... again a hymn, "The Love of God."
And he sang all the way back to his room. Other patients on the floor did not complain about the noise... instead they requested their favorite hymns. This man who was rushed to surgery, not expected to survive, was now in the midst of a two hour request concert!
The movie melodramatics about the unveiling of the rebuilt face were even present. His family and doctors hoped for the best-but feared his reaction to his rebuilt features. Here was a stage performer and salesman who had a heavily scarred face. A man to whom a handshake constituted a greeting of friendship, a method of selling, and the sealing of a contract was without normal hands. Doctors had remade them with grafted skin, but would his handshake now be as easily received?
Merrill Womach faced the splitting of the paths. Would he take the one to seclusion, or the other to the kind of life he had led before his accident? He hardly paused to make his decision. After viewing the results of the grafting without any great concern, he set out to return to the music and business worlds.
These many years later, he still must make regu- lar visits to the hospital for grafting and surgery to continue the work on his face. But he is living every moment for God. He has a successful radio show heard on stations throughout the country with the theme of encouraging everyone to look for the bright spots in each day.
His music service organization, itself a ministry in music, is flourishing. And he still maintains a con- cert schedule fitted into his busy calendar.
The intervention of the divine power is too obvious in Merrill Womach's story to be ignored.
From the inside cover (I believe In Miracles): A Miracle is "an event in the natural world, but out of its established order, possible only by the intervention of divine power." Merrill Womach believes in Miracles as only a person who has experienced such an "intervention" possibly can believe. Here is his personal story. It is the story of a man who had absolute faith in his God before a horrible tragedy involved him almost to the point of no return. That faith brought him through his ordeal a stronger man, spiritually, mentally and even physically.
Merrill Womach has devoted his life to music. Since the age of six he has been singing publicly. He has par- ticipated in and directed quartet, choral and choir work since his high school days. His gift of music has developed a solo voice which has been favorably com- pared with that of the late Mario Lanza.
In 1961 he was in demand as a concert soloist, specializing in gospel music. His new business, a music service for a specialized field, was beginning to build. It was for this company that he had occasion to be flying his own airplane around the West in November of that year.
Merrill Womach is an experienced pilot. In November of 1961 he had already logged some 1500 hours as a private pilot. It was this experience that contributed to the events that spared his life.
His plane loaded with 108 gallons of high test airplane fuel, he took off from an airfield at Beaver Marsh, Oregon. The weather was cold, the ground snowbound, and the airstrip covered with a coating of slush. Only briefly into the air, his engines stopped. Literally frozen with ice, formed from the slush which had splashed into them, the two motors defied restarting in the air.
Merrill negotiated the 180 degree turn that would send him coasting back toward the field. His experience told him how to keep the plane level even without power. He glided his way back to the airstrip... but never reached the smoothed surface. Some 50 yards from safety, his plane slashed into the timber surrounding the field.
The pilot survived the crash with almost no in- juries. But immediately after the plane came to its sudden stop, those 108 gallons of gasoline barroomed into the air. Flames covered Merrill as he pulled himself out of the plane and stumbled toward the road.
As he fled, he fell several times in the snow. Those barely remembered falls apparently snuffed out the flames which had engulfed him.
The explosion alerted the residents of Beaver Marsh to the accident. Merrill was nearing the road when the first car arrived, and he was rushed to the hospital. But despite horrible burns covering most of his body, he remained conscious.
In fact, he started to sing as they headed toward the hospital. He called on the One he knew best, as he sang hymns during the trip. In the hospital, as attendants peeled his charred clothing from his body, he continued to sing.
He even insisted, right then, on making a phone call to his wife to tell her of this unscheduled change in plans and then a call to his insurance man to report the loss of the plane. All this while doctors were trying to determine how to save his life.
The flames had practically devoured his face. Swollen within a few hours to the size of a basketball, his face was a charred mass. There were, at first, no openings for his eyes-so great was the swelling.
And still he sang.
His legs were severely burned. The skin on his hands was gone-only dozens of skin graft opera- tions would restore them to apparent normalcy. In the crash itself he had also suffered a skull fracture and a minor leg injury.
Merrill Womach is a shirt-sleeve pilot. When he enters his plane, he has the habit of immediately shedding his coat as a matter of comfort. However, on this day, Thanksgiving Day 1961, he left his suit jacket on when he climbed into his pilot's seat. The only part of his body not horribly burned was that part covered by the jacket. The skin there was virtually untouched.
Eventually that area would be the source for the hundreds of square inches of skin which would have to be grafted. Why did he leave his coat on this time? If he hadn't, there would have been no unharmed skin for the necessary transplants.
His first hours were critical ones for the doctors. But not for Merrill, who maintained his state of com- plete coherency and continued to sing... hymn after hymn. But always coming back to "Wonderful Peace."
A few days after the crash, plans were made to fly Merrill to a hospital in his hometown - Spokane, Washington. He remembers now that he knew he must be getting better if such a trip were allowed. He even insisted on climbing into the ambulance plane unaided... and leaving it in the same way. But he was quickly and firmly persuaded to ride a stretcher from the plane to the waiting ambulance.
You see, his condition had not improved. It had worsened. He was in danger of losing his fight be- cause of blood clots. If one should reach his heart, the recovery might be ended. In fact, one small clot did pass through his heart and into his lung be- fore he could be rushed to surgery in Spokane. His family was warned he might not return from the operating room.
But return he did, singing all the way. As the elevator brought him from the surgical floor, his relatives and friends heard that familiar voice resounding down the shaft... again a hymn, "The Love of God."
And he sang all the way back to his room. Other patients on the floor did not complain about the noise... instead they requested their favorite hymns. This man who was rushed to surgery, not expected to survive, was now in the midst of a two hour request concert!
The movie melodramatics about the unveiling of the rebuilt face were even present. His family and doctors hoped for the best-but feared his reaction to his rebuilt features. Here was a stage performer and salesman who had a heavily scarred face. A man to whom a handshake constituted a greeting of friendship, a method of selling, and the sealing of a contract was without normal hands. Doctors had remade them with grafted skin, but would his handshake now be as easily received?
Merrill Womach faced the splitting of the paths. Would he take the one to seclusion, or the other to the kind of life he had led before his accident? He hardly paused to make his decision. After viewing the results of the grafting without any great concern, he set out to return to the music and business worlds.
These many years later, he still must make regu- lar visits to the hospital for grafting and surgery to continue the work on his face. But he is living every moment for God. He has a successful radio show heard on stations throughout the country with the theme of encouraging everyone to look for the bright spots in each day.
His music service organization, itself a ministry in music, is flourishing. And he still maintains a con- cert schedule fitted into his busy calendar.
The intervention of the divine power is too obvious in Merrill Womach's story to be ignored.
My dad, who went to be w. the Lord that both Merrill and he loved, was a preacher of the gospel of Christ in KY and TN when my sis and I were young. Tho he didn't own this album, he had a Merrill W. record that came out a year earlier, entitled "My Song- A One Man Chorus". It had a pic on the front of a choir, all Merrill in different suits.
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