Myrna Merrill

Four score and 13 some odd years ago our grandparents, Ione Rogers and James Lowell Pearce gave birth to their first child, our mother Myrna Pearce. She was born 19th of May 1919 in Snowflake, Arizona and grew up on "The Ranch" which her father homesteaded in Linden, Arizona. She had a good childhood, was taught well and learned to organize and work hard. She never learned to ride a bike, but she was an excellent horseman. She was afraid of heights but at the age of six was lowered into the shallow well in a bucket to remove the dead cat which was tainting the water. She was the oldest of 10 children who love each other very much. Her mother was a teacher and taught at various schools here on the mountain. Mom helped get everyone ready and to where they needed to be. They helped their father a great deal with the cattle and the crops. She learned to never be idle. In May of 1937 she married Ralph Merrill whose family had recently moved to the area from Pima. Daddy had bet her a half a penny that she wouldn't marry him. Mom said, "Why don't you ask me and see." Mom was so thrifty, there would be no way she would let dad "waste" a half a cent on anything. They were married in the Mesa Temple and lived for a short time up here helping her mom after her father died the fall of that same year. Ralph got a job as a truck driver and off to Phoenix they went. Mom had 3 little girls when Daddy was drafted as an entertainer/boxer into the Navy. She rented out the second bedroom of the small home on Polk street. When rationing made supplies limited, Mom improvised. When other women were putting draw strings in the panties of their children, Mom cut up old tires making "rubber bands" to replace the scarce elastic. After nearly two years without a leave. Daddy returned to "His Girls". They thought that they would try their hand out as proprietors of a store and post office in Kirkland, AZ. That venture turned out to be a scam, which Dad settled in "his own way". Back to Phoenix and truck driving, Daddy moved his growing family into a larger home on East Hazelwood. Mryna made a comfortable and attractive home. The door was always open to whoever needed a bed and hot meal. Being the only family in the valley, there would be many times the house was overflowing with people down from the mountain for weddings, ropings, fair time, shopping and medical needs. Mom would say that she was not very talented or that she was not much for giving service, but Mom knew how to add another potatoe to the pot, how to better cut a yard of fabric and stretch a dollar. She knew how to make you feel comfortable loved and needed even if it was to sit you down feed you something and play a game of cards. Her hands were always busy, cooking, sewing, quilting, knitting, crocheting, and doing puzzles, pulling taffy, playing the piano, turning pages in a book she was reading or helping someone else. She raised six wonderful kids to maturity and sees all of them endowed on high. As a family we enjoyed camping, hunting, cookouts and being with family. Mom was left 20 acres of the homestead as her inheritance. They built a cabin which would be expanded upon and provide shelter for many that would live there. In her later years, she and Dad were called to serve a mission in the Portland area serving the Viet Nam refugees. They were temple workers in the Mesa temple and also served in the Snowflake cannery. Having lived a long and useful life she is preceded in death by many family members, friends and loved ones. She gave great care and support to our father that passed away in 2008. She was strong and mentally capable of living on her own until the last week of her life. She is survived by 5 kids, Jean (the late Floyd) Lee, Merlene (Rick) Eberly, Keith (Darlene Bigler), Cindy (Dudley) Brown, Lavar (Brenda Crandell), having lost her oldest child, Joan (Sam) Duncan in 2002. She lived in a great era where much has changed, from carbide lamps to microwaves, TVs, and computers, from horse and buggy to automobiles, men on the moon and other galaxies discovered. She will be greatly missed but always remembered. Her funeral will be held Saturday the 19th of January in the Linden LDS Chapel at 11 am. There will be a viewing prior to the services at the church and on Friday evening at the Livingston Mortuary in Show Low. Interment will be following the funeral at the Show Low cemetery.