Hope business, community leader Merrill Clouse, 96, dies

HOPE, Ind. — Longtime Hope business operator and community leader Merrill Clouse, 96, died Thursday at his home.

Clouse and his wife Norma — who died last April at age 94 — opened Clouse’s Food Center Inc. in 1961 on the Hope Town Square, where it was a fixture for decades.

They were instrumental in establishing the Yellow Trail Museum in Hope. In 1987, they shared a Sagamore of the Wabash awarded by Gov. Robert Orr. 

Funeral arrangements are pending at Norman Funeral Home in Hope.

Look for additional details in upcoming editions of The Republic.