Our Family - 1988

 GARRETT & CHERYL MERRICK FAMILY

by Karlene Worwood

Garrett and Cheryl Merrick live at 1214 N. 300 W.. They have been in our Ward since the wards were divided.

GARRETT was raised on Ohio, Arizona and Missouri. When he was 12 years old, he and his family joined the Church in Arizona. Garrett trains employees at the Provo Post Office. He serves as the Ward newspaper editor and as the membership clerk.

CHERYL was raised in California, and she is also a convert to the Church. She was baptized when she was 19 after taking 21 missionaries to finally convert her. Cheryl has her degree in elementary education and has an interest in the area of learning disabilities. She is the Primary inservice leader, co-editor of the Ward Newspaper and is responsible for the clever bulletin boards and displays.

JULENE is 15 and loves dancing, art and music (she plays the Viola). Julene is the manager of her high school volleyball team.

DAVID is 14 and enthralled with the new computer. He likes sports and science. He plays the bass.

LAURA is 8 years old and likes dancing and riding her bike.

DANIEL is 4. He is excited about going to preschool this year, "Like the big kids".

The family has an old cat named Fluffy.

Garrett and Cheryl both came to Utah to go to BYU, which is where they met. Garrett had been dating one of Cheryl's room-mates before Cheryl moved in. Garrett and Cheryl's first date was to the Gold and Green Ball then they dated for about 3 months before they were married in the Oakland Temple on Aug. 23, l972. Somehow Garrett got left alone in a waiting room at the Temple and he fell asleep. Nobody could find him. Cheryl was teased that maybe he was going to skip out of the wedding.

The Merrick family enjoys walks and bike riding together. This year has seen some firsts with everyone learning how to use the new computer and trying ice skating. A favorite vacation was when they went to Bryce Canyon.

One time when the family were camping out in the canyon, they encountered a skunk. Cheryl and Garrett sat and watched it poking about only 6 feet from where the kids were sleeping. They could only watch and hope no one would move suddenly and scare the skunk.

Garrett and Cheryl plan to be in our Ward until they are old and incapacitated. So it looks like we'll have a long time to enjoy them as part of our ward family.

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