A.V. MEDICAL PIONEER STILL ON CALL.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET

LANCASTER - Dr. Marshall Mercer cares about his fellow man, having spent a lifetime healing the physical ills of his patients and working for the betterment of his community.

Along the way, he has tempered his life with compassion and injected it with so much adventure that his retirement years are full of contentment.

Probably best known as the founder of the 30-year-old Bermuda Inn Resort on Sierra Highway, he has also been active in the American Medical Association's volunteer physician program.

Since moving to Lancaster in 1955, Mercer has been involved in a variety of community affairs, particularly those benefiting Antelope Valley Hospital.

He also has followed, with some reservation, the recent legislation proposed by Assemblyman George Runner, R-Lancaster, which would allow the breakup of Los Angeles County.

``Change is long overdue, but change is hard for some people to accept,'' Mercer said. ``You know what some of the old-timers say: Not in our lifetime!''

Mercer was lured to this area by a friend from his days at the University of Southern California.

One day the friend, now an architect, called to ask Mercer whether he had found a location for his budding medical practice.

``Have you looked at Lancaster?'' his friend asked.

``Lancaster? Where is Lancaster?'' Mercer responded.

There followed detailed geographical information and final advice.

``I'm building a gem of a hospital there. You should come up and take a look,'' said his friend.

``That was 42 years ago, and the rest is history,'' Mercer said. ``I came, I liked what I saw, and I stayed.''

Married to the former Frances Chandler, whose family owned the Los Angeles Times, he brought his wife and three children into this area, which he still praises as ``a wonderful place to raise children.''

He was born in Seattle on a Friday the 13th and delivered newspapers in the constant rain as a boy. He lived most of his young life in big cities, so when he came here he felt an immediate affinity for the rural aspects of the Antelope Valley.

``After living through all the rain in Seattle and two miserable winters in the Aleutian Islands, I was bound to be a desert lover,'' he said.

His medical practice thrived, and he often was forced to work through two shifts of nurses in his office. At the same time the necessity to keep current with new techniques drove him down to work in the metropolitan hospitals.

The scarcity of specialists in the Antelope Valley concerned him, so during his service in the big medical centers he talked up the benefits of the desert and praised the modern new hospital.

``I was instrumental in bringing 10 physicians to long careers here. Eight of them were specialists,'' he said. ``I think pioneering in that area is my greatest contribution to medical care here.''

He is reconciled, however, to the fact he will most likely always be remembered in connection with the Bermuda Inn Resort.

For 30 years, the inn on Sierra Highway served as a haven. It was an elegant spa where celebrities from all over the world could relax in anonymity while fighting weight problems.

``We employed 65 local citizens and infused the Antelope Valley with about $1 million a year in outside money,'' he said.

``My eight years at the beginning of the project are the subject of a so far unpublished book, `High Priest in a Fat Farm: His Simple Secrets Revealed

' '' said Mercer. ``It's not only entertaining but very instructive.''

His wife, who managed the resort until she sold it, died in 1971 after 25 years of marriage.

That was the same year Mercer's friend, Dr. Hugh Clemmer, died tragically, leaving his widow, Marjorie, to raise their 4-year-old son, Hugh.

In 1975, he and Marge married in Yosemite National Park.

``My 91-year-old father was my best man, and 8-year-old Hugh gave his mother away,'' he said. ``It was a glorious setting and a glorious day. It has worked out very well, and I'm as proud of Hugh as I am of my own kids.''

Mercer's three children were well on their way to becoming adults whose achievements now, he said, ``have exceeded those of their father.''

They are: Marsha Lang, doctor of jurisprudence, Sacramento; Barbara Casady, who became the mother of triplet boys at the age of 45, Encino; and M. Martin Mercer, doctor of jurisprudence and a certified public accountant, Littleton, Colo.

He and Marge have traveled the world, logging some 300,000 air miles outside the United States. They also have taken some special domestic trips.

A memorable adventure was a weeklong trek, floating down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Marshall termed it ``never to be forgotten,'' while Marge's version is ``never to be repeated, you mean.''

Mercer also volunteered for many humanitarian campaigns, working in Watts after the 1965 riots, in Mexico City after the 1985 earthquake, to Vietnam in 1971, and to the Alaskan Native Health Clinic in Juneau on the Sioux Reservation and the Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota.

``Those trips were meaningful and satisfying,'' he said. ``I can't thank the AMA enough for organizing the programs which gave me the greatest experiences of my life, then honoring me with an Outstanding Humanitarian Service award.''

He is humble about the many other accolades he has received.

``When I think of my accomplishments in the medical profession, I know it's because I've been standing on the shoulders of other people, like Dr. Homer Rowell,'' he said. ``He's really the father of the Antelope Valley Hospital, you know. It was Homer who went out and got private donations so that we could purchase the land for the hospital. What a fortuitous purchase that was - way out in the middle of nowhere and such a huge parcel. Look at it now.''

Mercer retired in 1984, went back to work half-time in 1991 and still puts in eight hours a week at a local methadone clinic.

``Just to keep my hand in and that old wolf away from the door,'' he laughed.

Following are this week's menus for the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom. Meals include bread and coffee, tea or milk.

Monday: Hot turkey sandwich, mashed potatoes, carrots, salad, pineapple chunks.

Tuesday: Fish, rice pilaf, tomatoes, three-bean salad, apple brown betty.

Wednesday: Hamburger, macaroni salad, peas and carrots, fruit.

Thursday: Pinto beans and ham, pickled beets, salad, pudding.

Friday: Baked chicken, au gratin potatoes, winter squash, fiesta coleslaw, apple.

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Photo: ``I was instrumental in bringing 10 physicians to long careers here. Eight of them were specialists I think pioneering in that area is my greatest contribution to medical care here.''

- Dr. Marshall Mercer