SAN DIEGO — Cantor Shelly Merel has carved out his place in local Jewish history as the chazan emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel and as the husband of Marcie Merel, former president of Jewish Family Service.
But it turns out that through his family he can lay a claim to a first in U.S. Navy history.
He explains: “I came across a website with the history of the U.S. navy Dental Corps, and found the following quote about my cousin, Dr. Sara Krout…. ‘By 1943, more than 3,500 dentists were serving on active duty. In June 1944, the first woman dentist in the Armed Forces, Lt. Sara Krout, DC., USNR, reported to Great Lakes, Il. She stayed in the Navy Reserves after the war and retired as a Commander on December 1, 1961.”
Merel told San Diego Jewish World that Krout was a cousin on his mother, Frieda’s side, and “although she practiced in Chicago was my family’s dentist during many visits from New York to that city. She was an incredible woman and beloved by her patients and family. Sara received her dental training in Russia and after arriving in Chicago, studied English with Morris Krout, a young psychologist, whom she later married.”
In October 1944, just after I graduated from the New York State Maritime Academy, I met my brother, Maynard, in Chicago, who was stationed in Indiana with the Navy. The two of us traveled to the Illinois Naval Training Station to visit Sara, and I cherish a wonderful photo (above) of the three of us in our uniforms.”