March 16, 1906
Rev. Merrill Sulzman is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Frank M. Sulzman, 1831 Fifth Avenue, Troy, N. Y., and a member of St. Peter's Church, Troy. He was born on March 16, 1906. He graduated, from LaSalle Institute, Troy, and Manhattan College, New York. His theological studies were made at St. Augustine's Seminary, Toronto, Canada.   

February 1931
 On Saturday, February 14, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Rt. Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, D.D., Bishop of Albany, will Ordain the Rev. Merrill Sulzman of Troy for the Vicariate of Alaska, and the Rev. James Walton of Amsterdam for the Diocese of Kansas City. Several members of the Franciscan Order and of the Missionaries of La Salette will be ordained to the orders of subdiaconate and deaconate. On Saturday, February 7, in the chapel of St. Anthony-on-the-Hudson, Rensselaer, the Rt. Rev. Bishop will raise to the diaconate the Rev. James Walton and the following friars of the Order of Minor Conventuals to the. subdiaconate: Fraters Berard Murphy, Egbert Manny, Gilbert Hertvik, Bonaventure Imhoff, Mark Nolan, Walter Sterner, Cyprian Terwood and Arthur Nazic. These members of the Franciscan Order, together with Messrs. Leona Martel, Vincent Ryan, Joseph Balgenorth and Theodore Morin of the Missionaries of La Salette will be advanced to the diaconate on the 14th in the Cathedral
 Father Sulzman will sing his first High Mass in St. Peter's Church, Troy, on February 15. Two priests of the Vicariate of Alaska, to which Father Sulzman belongs, will assist him at his first Mass. The arch-priest will be the Rev. Edgar Gallant and the deacon the Rev. George Woodley.   The Rev. John Nestor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima, New York city will preach the sermon.
 Rev. Merrill F. Sulzman, son of Dr. and Mrs. Frank M. Sulzman, who was raised to the Roman Catholic priesthood by Bishop Gibbons at Albany Saturday, celebrated his first solemn mass yesterday morning at 11 o'clock in St. Peter's Church. A congregation which taxed the capacity of the church witnessed the solemn ceremonies and received the young priest's blessing.                        
 Rev. John Nestor of the Church of St. Rose of Lima, New York, delivered the sermon of the occasion, extolling in an eloquent manner the dignities of the priesthood and the life of sacrifice which it entails. Rev. George Woodley of the Vicariate of Alaska, for which Rev. Father Sulzman was ordained, acted as deacon of the mass and' Rev. Robert C. Murphy of St. Peter's Church was the subdeacon. Rev. George E. Gallant, pastor of the church at Skagway, Alaska, to which the newly ordained-priest has been appointed, was archpriest.
 During the mass a special program of devotional music was given by the choir under the direction of Prof W. Leo McCarthy. A musical program was given by William T. Lawrence, violin; Willard Lawrence, cello, and Paul Holtz, clarinet. John J. Fogarty, baritone, gave vocal solos. 
After the mass Rev. Father Sulzman celebrated benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and then came to the altar rail to impart his blessing to his relatives and friends.
 Seated in the sanctuary during the ceremony were Rev. John Fox of East Greenbush, Rev. Jules J. Burrick, pastor of the Church of the Sacred Heart, Cohoes; Rev. John A. Kavanaugh, chaplain of the House of the Good Shepherd; Rev. Edward A. Heenan of the Catholic Central High School faculty, Rev. Richard R. Mason and Rev. James Pritchard, of St. Peter's Church, and Rev. Edward F. Dalton of Waterford.
 
 
 The pioneer priest first saw Alaska in 1925 when he went there on vacation with his parents. 
 
 In 1931, he was ordained at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany for the Diocese of Alaska and was assigned to Seward where his parish included Kodiak Island, the Aleutians and Bristol Bay.
Father Sulzman was then assigned an assistant pastor of Pius X Mission in Skagway, and in 1935, he accompanied the first contingent of American Midwest Dust Bowl victims who went into the Matanuska Valley. He was one of the first priests to enter the valley and he lived through terrible blizzards. He occupied a tent that winter when the mercury dropped to 50 below zero.
  It was during that winter that young Father Sulzman recruited volunteers to go into the forests and cut logs for the construction of a church and farm dwellings. In the spring, he designed and helped to build St. Michael's Church at Palmer, a log structure.
  During his years in the Matanuska Valley, he made two trips to Washington, D.C., to secure land grants for his church. He also lectured about his church in fund-raising efforts.
  In 1939, Father Sulzman was called back to Skagway and he remained there until he was assigned to a lonely island off the Alaskan coast where troops were stationed. In 1943, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Chaplains Corps and served in the Aleutians. He became battalion chaplain of the 53rd Infantry Regiment which took part in the invasion of Kiska.
  His military achievements also included service with the 65th Division, 3rd Army which made the breakthrough in the Sarr Valley in the race with Gen. Patton's army to Germany and Austria.
  In 1947, Father Sulzman returned to Alaska as pastor of St. Gregory's Church in Sitka. Although still assigned to Bishop of Alaska, Father Sulzman had been in semi-retirement for several years before his death. He spent his last days writing in the Matanuska Valley.