Merle Temple,a native of Tupelo, Mississippi, worked for the FBI in Washington after high school. He returned to Tupelo and married Susan Jackson in 1969. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice Management at Ole Miss. While finishing college, he worked as an adult education specialist for ICC College. After Susan Temple passed away, Merle married Judy Bates Temple in 2010.

He was Mississippi’s first Captain in the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics in the 1970s and was nominated for Parade magazine’s National Police Service Award. Merle was Class President of the New England Institute of Management and graduated from the DEA Academy in Washington D.C. He was held hostage while working undercover in 1972, met men hired by organized crime to kill him in 1973 in a standoff near Memphis, and was involved in an ambush and gun battle with drug dealers in a 1976 heroin deal gone sour. He was Special Internal Affairs investigator of a plan to corrupt the Bureau.

Merle received the American Legion Award for Leadership, served as MS Criminal Justice Chairman for Ronald Reagan for President and was a member of the American Security Council. A member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, he taught criminal justice and sociology at Augusta State University and received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ole Miss.

He was elected to the executive committee of the Republican Party in Jackson, MS. and a special nominating convention to nominate a congressional candidate. He later hosted the White House Deputy Drug Czar at his home for a major anti-drug rally and was elected to the Republican Executive Committee in the Delta.

Merle went to work for the Bell System in 1978 where he served as a Security Manager and later a Business Office Manager. He was cited for helping save the Jackson, MS. Assistant Mayor’s wife who was held hostage by a gunman, and as a business office manager, his office received the Best Office Award for collections and sales. As Bellsouth Manager of Long Range Planning in Birmingham, he wrote a plan that made phone service available to over 100,000 low income customers and spurred growth in new phone lines.

He handled media requests at the Masters Golf Tournament and coordinated Bellsouth’s production of the first tournament in HDTV for Korea and Japan. He hosted Japanese businessmen there led by his mentor, Cappy Harada, gave U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell a tour of the broadcast, and hosted the Youth Leadership Augusta class. Merle later worked with Harada to bring LPGA golf back to Augusta aftre a 50 year absence.

Merle was nominated for the Eagle Award and promoted to District Manager in Augusta, Georgia in 1988. He received the President’s Arrow Award for Leadership, the Count on Me, Lion, Good Neighbor and other BellSouth awards. The Washington office named him the prototype field manager for advancing legislation when he led the company in editorials and resolutions supporting telecom legislation. He led the successful drive to rename a street in Columbia County, Georgia, after President Ronald Reagan, as Grover Norquist's Reagan Legacy Project Georgia. Chairman.

He chaired Youth Leadership Augusta, hosted honor students each grading period for a luncheon at a restaurant of their choice, and built bluebird trails for a local school he adopted and osprey nesting platforms with U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists. Temple was a member of the Audubon board. He reunited a World War II veteran with his daughter in England he had not seen since he and her mother separated 51 years prior. His daughter was dying of cancer and wanted to “see” her father. Merle set up links from BellSouth, a long distance vendor, and British Telecom to bring together the man and his daughter one last time. He also hosted the Soviet Olympic Rowing Team in the final months before The Soviet collapse, showcased the free market system, and the Soviet KGB official invited him to Moscow and gave him a key to the city in a rare gesture of friendship.

He also chaired many fundraisers, including: The Medical College of Georgia Corporate Partner Program drive for which he received the President's Award; the American Cancer Society Jail ‘n Bail fundraiser which broke state and national records, and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation Walk for a Cure for which he received the “Friend of JDF Award” as their President; the Metro Chamber of Commerce Membership drive Business team chairman and best team award; and the first $1 million gift to University Hospital which he played a role in as their board member.

Merle and another business leader entertained call center company executives at the Masters for five years, and finally convinced them to choose Augusta, bringing over 100 jobs to the city and millions of dollars into the Augusta economy. Because the Augusta district was the top Total Quality District in Bellsouth, extra funding was made ahead of schedule to the network, marketing, and other departments resulting in cutting edge technology coming to Augusta which attracted new companies and jobs dependent on telecom services.

He received awards from the Corporate Affairs, Network, Marketing, Directory, Wireless and Consumer Affairs departments in Bellsouth for his team approach and innovation. He was Education Chairman for the Metro Augusta Chamber of Commerce for seven years, served on a national panel in St. Louis setting standards for America’s schools and led the fight there against lowering standards. He was nominated by Bellsouth for President George H.W. Bush’s Points of Light Award and named Georgia Drug Free Chairman by his friend, Senator Paul Coverdell.

Merle chaired a fund raiser for Coverdell and George W. Bush, supported Charlie Norwood for Congress in 1994 (opposing BellSouth's FedPac backed incumbent), and was offered a job as his Chief of Staff when newcomer Norwood defeated the incumbent. Temple became the primary telecom adviser with Norwood since Bellsouth had no influence. His fight, as Care Management Consultants Chairman, against OSHA's punitive actions against the non-profit became the subject of a House speech by Congressman Norwood, a Washington Post article, and internet articles.

He chaired national search committees for Augusta’s City Manager and School Superintendent. He co-authored an Employ-ability Test for high school graduates, was a guest lecturer at the University of South Carolina, Brenau College and at Augusta Technical Institute where, as a board member, he implemented Total Quality Management. He introduced his friend, Fred Davidson, former University of Georgia Chancellor, at an awards ceremony and presented him with a Life Achievement Award from the American Society for Training and Development.

Merle was a sponsor of the Augusta Mayor’s prayer breakfast, traveled to Washington with the Mayor and Chamber officials to lobby for economic development, and served on a business committee that brought Pastor Tony Evans to Augusta for a community prayer meeting. He lobbied the U.S. Secretary of the Army to save Fort Gordon and the U.S. Energy Secretary to save the Savannah River Nuclear site. He met with U.S. Senators Nunn and Thurmond to lobby against a Clinton Defense Department nominee, a leaker of the identity of CIA operatives.

Author of numerous articles on education reform, he led the movement in his district to institute TQM in business and education. Temple’s district was named the best quality district in Bellsouth and he was elected chairman of the Metro Quality Council. He also counted migrating birds for Cornell University’s National Project and studied with a master ornithologist in Florida who had logged over 5,000 species.

He was the first President of the Augusta Mini Theater, an agency that trained inner city youths in the arts, and served on the board of Safe Homes of Augusta which helped abused women, the Boy Scouts, Osbon Medical Systems, the American Red Cross, and the American Heart Association.

Merle managed a reformer’s campaign against an incumbent politician in 2000, the biggest political upset in Georgia in 50 years. A brutal campaign was waged by the incumbent, but the newcomer won going away. Temple was threatened by some in the media, local politicians and some in Bellsouth who tried to silence him because of offended political allies and demanded a surrender of his freedom of speech and association.

He retired early as Bellsouth’s top rated manager in his department and was nominated by Congressman Norwood for a Federal appointment in the Bush administration. Power to appoint would have been with his friend, Senator Coverdell, but with his death, it fell through. Temple finally accepted an appointment as Deputy Superintendent of Education in Georgia.

Merle was ordained by a group of Southern churches in 2010. He is author of the novel, A Ghostly Shade of Pale, based on his experiences in the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, and is writing the sequel, A Rented World, based on his rise and fall in the Bell System and his path to Jesus Christ. His ministry, Prisoners of the Lord, planted Christian movie nights at three Federal Bureau of Prison sites where thousands of men were exposed to Christ.

He writes and serves as an evangelist from his home near Tupelo, Ms. where he seeks to live his faith, defend the Truth, and advance the Kingdom.