Merlyn Anderberg:
CLASS OF 1950
North Central High SchoolClass of 1950
Spokane, WA
Joel E. Ferris High SchoolClass of 1965
Spokane, WA
Salk Junior High SchoolClass of 1963
Spokane, WA
Whitworth CollegeClass of 1961
Spokane, WA
Reed CollegeClass of 1955
Portland, OR
Merlyn's Story
I, Merlyn Leslie Anderberg, was born in Tacoma, WA on November 28, 1931. I moved to Spokane from Olympia in 1937. My father and mother ran a confectionary store across from the old St. Luke's Hospital in west Spokane for 28 years. I attended Holmes Grade School, Havermale Junior High School, and North Central High, where I graduated in 1950. At North Central I was active in the band, student leader of the pep band, managing editor and sports editor of the North Central News, Tamarack staff, several clubs and student government, finishing with a 3.92 g.p.a.
After graduating from North Central I worked at Washington Trust Bank on a Work/College scholarship plan for 15 months. During this time I also joined the Naval Air Reserve as a Yeoman at Geiger Field and played professionally in a dance band.
I attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, graduating with majors in biology and chemistry, and a minor in math, in 1955. I was a weekend warrior once a month at the Naval Air Station in Salem, Oregon, while attending Reed. I then attended the University of Washington Medical School from 1955 to 1959, but did not complete my senior year. I was burned out working and trying to finance my schooling.
I worked in the insurance industry in Seattle and Denver for about a year before going back to get some teaching credentials at Whitworth College. After getting my B. Ed. in 1961, I was selected to teach 9th grade physical science at the new Salk Junior High School. I got my M. Ed. from Whitworth in 1963, moving to open the new Joel E. Ferris High School as the first biology teacher. After two years I got a National Science Foundation grant to the University of Oregon, where I received my M.S. in Biology in 1966. I was then hired to teach biology, zoology and human anatomy & physiology at the young Spokane Community College, moving to the new Spokane Falls Community College campus in 1967, where I taught some biology, but primarily human anatomy and physiology until retiring in 1996. I served as Department Ch...Expand for more
air of the Biology Department for 11 years. Since retiring I have continued to the present as a registration advisor at SFCC.
I married Gretchen Reim of the Spokane Valley on March 19, 1966. Gretchen was a nurse and also a nursing educator at the Intercollegiate College of Nursing in Spokane until retiring about 4 years ago. We have four children¿Robert, Susan, Carole and David, all of which are married (except David) with each having a boy and girl. So at present we have 6 healthy grandchildren.
We moved into a new construction home in a new development called Aspen Creek in the Spokane Valley in September of 2009. We love the conveniences of our new home and its location with great views of Mt. Spokane and Tower Mountain. We have lived in 5 other homes during our 44+ years of married bliss¿ going from northwest Spokane to the Sunset Hill on the west to the Spokane South Hill to north on the Little Spokane River and back to the South Hill in 2000. We also have a 5 bedroom, 2 kitchen, lake house at Spirit Lake, Idaho, which we purchased in 1998. It is our family gathering place in the summers.
During the week of Mt. St. Helen's eruption I had my first coronary bypass in May, 1980. It worked fine until I had a stent placement in 1995, occluding 2 months later, requiring a quadruple bypass and losing about a third of my heart muscle. Otherwise my health has been fairly good (as long as I don't move fast or go very far, with help from a pacemaker/defibrilator). Occasionally I get a flareup of gout. But I can't complain as the Lord has blessed us in so many ways.
While Gretchen does the gardening and baby sitting our three youngest (2, 2.5 & 5) grandchildren 4 days a week, I spend time doing many different computer audio and visual projects. My other interest is the Creation/Evolution debate, which I view with a biblical perspective, noting that Darwinian evolution is nothing but overblown fiction with little experimental observational facts to support its so-called scientific base. Enough said.
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