Donna Merritt:
CLASS OF 1959
West High SchoolClass of 1959
Salt lake city, UT
Donna's Story
I married in 1960 and lived in Salt Lake for a year and then moved to Grantsville, UT for a few years. I had three children, a daughter and two sons. Then I moved to Overton, NV and have been here since. My first husband Larry Staley was a bank manager and was killed along with two of his women bank tellers in a horrible bank robbery in 1967. It was on national news and was hard to believe that it could happen in such a small town as Overton.
I have since re-married to a wonderful man, Frank Merritt, and we have been married for almost 31 years. I did go to Henagers Business college right out of high school and did work for a while, but was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom and raise my three kids and two step daughters.
All during my high school years you would find me with Pat Shields and Kathy Clark. We were always together. Kathy got married in our senior year to Leo Grimsley. Pat and I went to Henagers Business college together and still keep in contact. I would love to find Kathy Clark again as we lost contact years ago. If anyone reading this knows where Kathy may be, let me know. I know that she and Leo were divorced, and that she may have moved to CA. Kathy, Pat, and I worked in the school office for two years. That is when I decided that I wanted to be a secretary.
I was a very shy girl and really never dated much in high school, but had a lot of fun with my friends.
When we were sophomores, we hung around with Sharon and Karen Horrell (twins) they were seniors and we never had so much fun in our lives as we did with that group of friends. We would meet at a drive-in on State St. after all the games and socialize. The mood of the socializing was if West won what ever sports was going on. The team would be there too. Kathy, Pat, and I were really sad when the twins graduated. I would have to say that our sophomores year was the best year of all my high school years. We used to c...Expand for more
ruze State St. and meet all the guys that were doing the same. The 50's were great.
I have always loved animals and have had many pets. The bird you see in my picture is an Umbrella Cockatoo, and we had her for 10 years. She died suddenly right before Thanksgiving this year 08. Frank & I have had a really hard time dealing with it as she was always with one or the other. She was never in her cage except to sleep or when we left the house. They are called companion parrots and that is exactly what she was to us.
I loved sports when I was younger,I played tennis, softball, volley ball, basketball, and snow skied later in life. We had a condo at Elk Meadows, UT and that is where we learned to ski and loved every minute of it. We used to go out on our boat on Lake Meade and play in the water.
Old age has taken its toll on me and now I try to walk and used to go to curves but that hurt too much. I love to do genealogy and have had a lot of fun researching my family. Frank and I work in our local Family History Library. I like a variety of music and can listen to almost anything except hard rock.
My husband Frank retired a few years ago and we bought a 5th Wheel travel trailer so we can leave our hot desert home in the summer months. A year ago we went to Charleston, OR right on the ocean and stayed in a beautiful park called Bastendorf. We met some wonderful people there and we are still in contact with most of them. We spent last summer in Ely, NV and was disappointed that we didn't go back Bastendorf.
Our parrot Cami traveled with us sitting on a perch between Frank & I in the truck. She loved to travel and was no problem at all. She was quite the conversation starter as people would come up to us to see her. Frank was called the birdman of Bastendorf as Cami was on his shoulder when he was out and about in the park. She would grab the collar of his shirt with her foot and hang on for the ride.
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