Merritt C. Fouts, 88, of Franklin, died peacefully on Saturday, October 20, 2018, at the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital.

Born in Macon County on July 25, 1930, he was the son of the late William T. and Mary Aldora Rickman Fouts. His parents and nine siblings, Aster, Milton, Lois Franklin, W. R. "Widge," Marshall, Doris Lynch, Remon, Dessie Mae Guyer, and Frances Taylor preceded him in death.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Force and was a Korean War veteran. Mr. Fouts, as he was known to so many, attended Western Carolina College and became a lifelong educator. He taught at Franklin High School and served as principal at Cowee and Cartoogechaye Elementary schools, always encouraging his students to excel and use their talents. He revived Appalachian-style clog dancing at Cartoogechaye and was inducted into America's Clogging Hall of Fame. In 2015, the Macon County Commissioners adopted a "Resolution Designating Merritt Fouts as an Honorary Historian of Macon County."

Merritt Fouts was a devoted member of Burningtown Baptist Church, serving in many capacities throughout the years, including deacon, treasurer, and choir member. He loved life and loved people. He delivered Meals on Wheels for 17 years, served on the Community Advisory Committee for Long Term Care, as a director of the Friends of the Library, and with other organizations. For his community service, he was twice honored by the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce with its "Citizen of the Year" award.

Publishing and interacting with people through The Burningtown News (BTN) was one of the great joys of his life. In 1999, following years of writing long, handwritten notes to his daughters, he began the online newspaper which built community around positivity. One of the interactions of the weekly paper was his readers' contributions of found pennies and loose change which they sent to the "poor man on Burningtown." The individual actions resulted in hundreds of dollars being contributed to charity each year. The BTN contained much fiction and the readers eagerly anticipated his stories of little people, the Luchorpans, who, he wrote, lived in caves above his house. By December 2016, when he sent the last edition of the BTN, it had more than 1,000 subscribers.

Merritt Fouts is survived by his wife of 64 years, Lucille Edwards Fouts; his three daughters and sons-in-law, Lynne and John Garrison, Sharon and George Taylor, and Judith and Gregg Jones; four grandchildren, Caitlyn and William Garrison and Meredith and Kendall Jones; sister-in-law, Mary Evelyn Fouts; and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral Service will be held at 2 pm Thursday, October 25, at Burningtown Baptist Church. Rev. Brian Holland, Rev. Tommy Fouts, Dr. Avery Fouts, and Rev. Cadon Fouts will officiate. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 pm, Wednesday, October 24 at Macon Funeral Home.

Donnie Bishop, Bill Hughes, Don Jones, Jeff Parrish, Ed Simonds, and Roger Simonds will serve as pallbearers.

Memorial donations may be made to Mainspring Conservation Trust, PO Box 1148, Franklin, NC 28744, www.mainspringconserves.org; Hospice House Foundation of WNC, PO Box 815, Franklin, NC 28744, https://hhfwnc.org/; or to the Friends of the Macon County Public Library, 115 Highlands Road, Franklin, NC 28734.

Macon Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

Online condolences can be made to the family at www.maconfuneralhome.com