PORTLAND – Mervin A. Rowe, 91, of Narragansett Street, Gorham, passed away on Friday, Jan. 11, at Maine Medical Center, after a long battle with heart problems and diabetes.

He was born April 2, 1916, in West Gorham, a son of Harry and Ethel Weymouth Rowe. He attended the one-room school in West Gorham. From grades five to eight, he went to Corthell Hall at Gorham Normal School. He graduated from Gorham High School in 1933 and Gorham State Teachers College in 1938. He earned a master’s degree in education from Boston University in 1946.

He was principal of an elementary school in Fairfield from 1936 to 1937, and in Jackson, N.H., from 1938 to 1945. From 1946 to 1974, he was a history teacher at Portland High School.

During this period, he was chairman of the economic committee of Portland Teachers Association and devised a plan which he called the Index Plan. Each step on the salary scale was indexed to the starting salary to a maximum top. It kept all steps of the scale in proper alignment with starting salary. The plan was later adopted by all towns in the state. Only the starting salary had to be renegotiated each year.

He was also very active with the Maine Teachers Association and was chairman of a committee on standards and licensure. Beginning standards went from graduation from the old two year course at normal schools to the present four year college degree. He was involved with the retirement system for teachers and served two terms as a trustee in the 1970s. He followed the progress of the system for more than 50 years and helped teachers with their problems.

He was a 60-year member of Harmony Lodge of Masons. He was interested in antique autos, trolley cars, tractors, welding machines, trucks, etc. He married Stephanie Lozis on June 21, 1947. She predeceased him on May 3, 2006.

Survivors include his niece, Debra Pomerleau of Buxton; nephew, Brenton Hill of Buxton; as well as Stephanie’s sisters, Anne Reid of Oregon, Mary Hughes of Lewiston and Sophie Michaud of Auburn. He will be missed by all who knew him.