Bernice Merrill

Bernice Chard Merrill

1922 ~ 2020

Bernice Chard Merrill, 97, passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 15, 2020, at her home in Orem, Utah. She was born the ninth of ten children in the home of her parents, David Elery Chard and Sarah Minerva Jones, in Liberty, Utah. She was the last surviving member of the Chard family.

In Liberty, her early years were spent playing with her little sister, Fern, picking fruits and vegetables on her father’s farm, and riding her favorite horse. At Weber High School, she enjoyed playing ping pong and cheering with the Pep Club. After graduating from Weber, and Seminary, she eventually worked at the U.S. Army Depot during WWII. Her claim to fame during the War was that she shipped the Dictaphone, which was sent to the Pacific to record the Japanese surrender.

After the war, Bernice served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Western Canada, where she met her future husband, Owen Skidmore Merrill, who was also serving as a missionary. They were married in the Salt Lake City Temple on May 28, 1948.

During the years that followed, she had 6 children: Susan Garber, Renee (Richard) Beckstead, Dean (Nancy) Merrill, Rodney Merrill, Evan (Coleen) Merrill, and Robert Merrill. She is survived by all 6 children, 19 grandchildren, and 39 great-grandchildren, and was preceded in death by her husband, Owen, and grandson, Jason Beckstead.

Bernice loved children, as evidenced by caring for other children in her home; by serving as the President of the Junior Sunday School for nine years; as a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts; as a Teachers Aid; and, as a social worker for unwed mothers — and their children.

She humbly served as a faithful member of the Church as a missionary going from house-to-house in a horse-drawn buggy; as the Manager of the Washington D.C. Distribution Center; as a member of the Mormon Choir of Washington D.C; and, as a temple worker with her husband.

But through all her work and service, she loved her ancestors and siblings, as she often repeated stories about them; she loved her friends, as she would talk to them for hours on the phone; and, she loved her children and descendants, as her door was always open for a shoulder to cry on, for honest council, and love.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Ogden Mortuary, 3408 Washington Blvd. Friends may visit with family on Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. (open to those over 60 from 5 to 6 p.m.) and Wednesday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary. Interment, Liberty Cemetery, Liberty, Utah.

Services will be livestreamed here under Bernice’s obituary.

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