Ask God's Help In Custody Ruling. Easton, Pennsylvania; August 30, 1953 (United Press). Northampton county judge prayed "for divine guidance" today to resolve the custody of a 6-year-old girl sought by her stepmother and her uncle. When Harold E. Mertz died last April 12, his four-year-old will provided that his younger brother be appointed guardian for his only child. Lucinda. But, according to Mrs. Myrtle Mertz, of Beersville, who married the girls father shortly after the will was drawn, his deathbed request was that she always take care of "little Cindy." Mother Died Of Polio The girl's mother died of polio when Lucinda was 2. Mrs. Mertz learned that her husband's brother, Oscar, was appointed the girl's guardian at the reading of the will. But when he came to take her, the stepmother refused to let the girl go. Oscar Mertz, a $7,000 a year Bell Telephone Co. construction executive, who lives at Conyngham, Luzerne county, took the case to the Northampton County Common Pleas Court, where a hearing was held last Monday. Staying With Stepmother Mertz's attorney, George F. Coffin the contended that his client was a blood relative of the girl and "feels he can best provide "for her present and future welfare." "I may not be able to give Cindy material things her uncle can," when said, "but she'll get real collided and love from me and! The is what counts with a growing leave not dollars and cents." Cindy is staying with her stepmother pending a decision by Judge Carleton T. Woodring of Easton who reserved decision in the case.

$7,000 a year in 1953 is equivalent to $67,000 in 2019.

• Harold E. Mertz (1903-1953), the deceased father
• Helen Hilliard (1905-1949), Harold's wife, who died of polio
• Oscar Sylvester Detweiler Mertz (1908-1984), the deceased's brother
• Lucinda Mae Mertz, the orphaned child
• Myrtle Beers, the new stepmother
• George F. Coffin, Oscar's attorney
• Judge Carleton T. Woodring

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