Dear Meriba!!

March 23rd was Meriba Cornia's birthday - and I meant to post on it. But I couldn't find the photo I was looking for. Then while looking for another photo, I came across this one. This is the story of my life and looking for anything actually!

At Bonny's bridal shower in 1990.

Our family loved Meriba. We first met her when we were put into the Monrovia East Ward back in 1982! She was in her late 70's then and was the Primary Secretary. Later I was assigned to be her visiting teacher, and I got to know her well.

She had a very interesting life. Her husband had died young, and so she had worked most of her life. On Saturdays, she and her children did the housework while listening to the Saturday morning Metropolitan Opera on the radio. The program was sponsored by Texaco and was very well-known - I even listened a time or two!! She was quite an expert on opera.

She was related to President Kimball - Heber C. Kimball was some kind of a great-grandparent - I forget how many greats.

She lived frugally so that she could travel - and travel she did - all over the world. When Harry got his call to Bulgaria, it turned out that she had visited there, so she came over and showed us her slides of Bulgaria.

When we first met her, she had long white hair she wore up in bun. At some point she got it cut and wore it short the rest of her life.

She swam every day in the summer and walked daily too. As a young woman, she had swum across the Great Salt Lake - she had photos of the event and she showed them to me.

After she moved to St. George with her daughter and son-in-law, we would stop and visit her when we went through. They had built a house with an indoor lap pool so Meriba continued to swim daily into her 90's.

She missed living to 100 by a few months.

Sometimes people come into your lives, and you are richer for having known them. Meriba was that kind of person.