Bruce and Beth lived in Castro Valley, California when they began their married life in 1962.
In 1963, they bought a brand new house at 5149 Crane Avenue. The front yard hadn't been put in yet, so Bruce and Beth got to work on it.
It always looks worse before it looks better.
So much nicer! (That planter section is still there to this day).
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| Bruce and Beth Merrill, and Bob, Jean and Frank Partridge. |
In 1964, Craig was born!
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| Craig Merrill, 1964. |
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| Beth and Craig coming home from the hospital. |
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| Malcolm and Thelma Merrill with baby Craig Merrill, 1964. |
The oldest kid always gets the most pictures. :)
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| Malcolm Merrill with grandsons Craig Merrill and "Robbie" (Bobby) Wilson |
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| Beth and Craig, 1965. |
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| Craig's first birthday, 1965 |
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| Craig at Christmas, 1965. |
In November, 1964, the Oakland Temple was dedicated nearby.
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| Oakland Temple, 1964. |
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| Oakland Temple, January, 1966. |
In August, 1966, Devin joined the family.
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| Beth and Devin, August 1966. |
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| Devin, 1966. |
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| Devin and Craig, 1966. |
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| Devin and Craig at the Oakland Temple. |
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| Devin, Beth, Craig and Bruce at Yosemite National Park, June 1967. |
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| Craig and Devin, 1967. |
Karen Marie Merrill was born in October, 1967.
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| Karen Marie Merrill, October 1967. |
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| Craig and Karen, October 1967. |
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| Craig and Devin, October 1967. |
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| Karen, Craig and Devin, October 1967. |
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| Karen, October 1967. |
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Malcolm & Thelma Merrill with Bruce & Beth, Craig, Karen and Devin; and Don & Kay, Robin, David and Mark.
December 1967. |
Craig showed an early interest in photography. (I love that his toy camera is on a tripod).
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| Craig at Christmas time in Salt Lake City, 1967. |
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| Devin, Karen and Craig, April 1968. |
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| Karen, April 1968. |
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| Beth, Karen and Devin, June 1968. |
It was fun for everyone to have Grandpa and Grandma Malcolm & Thelma Merrill living close by. They were such sweethearts.
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| Malcolm & Thelma Merrill, August 1968. |
The front steps of Malcolm & Thelma Merrill's house at 814 Cragmont in Berkeley was the traditional place for family pictures.
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| Craig, Karen and Devin, August 1968. |
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| Bruce & Beth with Devin, Karen and Craig, Christmas 1968. |
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| Karen, June 1969. |
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| Devin and Craig, June 1969. |
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| Christmas 1969 (Craig, Bruce, Karen, Beth, Devin). |
Children's Fairyland was a magical place for all of us when we were little.
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| Craig, Devin and Karen at Children's Fairyland, February 1970. |
I remember sitting at this little table with Karen.
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| Randy Wilson and Karen Merrill, 1970. |
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| Bruce & Beth with Craig, Karen and Devin, Christmas 1970. |
Bruce and Beth moved to Pleasanton on New Year's Eve in 1970.
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| 1396 Harvest Road, Pleasanton, California |
Diana was born just a couple months later in February 1971.
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| Diana Merrill, February 1971. |
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| Diana and Beth, April 1971 |
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| Malcolm Merrill with Diana, August 1971. |
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| Diana, Leslie, Sharon and Karen, Christmas 1971. |
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| Devin, Christmas 1971 |
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| Christmas 1971 (Craig, Bruce, Devin, Karen, Beth, Diana) |
Here are Devin and Craig (the dentist's boys) looking in their Uncle Don's mouth with a flashlight.
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| Karen, Devin, Craig and Diana, March 1973 |
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| Craig and Devin, September 1974. |
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| Diana's 4th birthday, February 1975. |
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| Malcolm and Bruce, March 1975. |
I remember Devin being especially into baseball.
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| Devin at bat, April 1975. |
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| Karen and Diana, April 1975. |
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| Beth, Karen, Diana, Craig and Devin, 1975. |
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| Diana and Karen, April 1975 |
Janette Anne Merrill was born in May, 1975.
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| Beth and Janette, September 1975. |
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| Beth, Janette and Bruce, September 1975. |
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| Janette, 1975. |
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| Christmas 1975 (Bruce, Devin, Janette, Craig, Karen, Beth, Diana) |
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| Diana at Christmas, 1975. |
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| Janette, Christmas 1975 |
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| Karen, 1976. |
In February, 1978, Julianne was born to round out the family.
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| Beth and Julie, May 29, 1978. |
And then everybody grew up.
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| Julie, 1981 |
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| Janette, 1981. |
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| Craig, 1981. |
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| Devin, 1981. |
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| Diana, 1982. |
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| Janette and bunny, 1984. |
In 1987, Craig married Andrea.
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| Andrea and Craig, 1987. |
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| Ishil (Wilsons' exchange student from Turkey), Karen, Sharon, 1988. |
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| Julie, Janette and Beth playing the piano, 1989. |
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| Diana pretending to do homework, 1989. |
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| Sharon, Janette, Diana and others at Karen's BYU graduation, 1990. |
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| Julie and Sharon at Karen's BYU graduation, 1990. |
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Pile of cousins, 1991.
Top: Leslie, Jenny, James and Jeff Gates;
Middle: Diana, Sharon, Mark, Karen, Mark, Karen, Julie;
Bottom(ish): Randy, Joe, Janette, Roger, John. |
Janette married Brandon Pace on August 6, 1996.
And then Brandon and Janette both graduated from BYU in 1997.
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| Brandon and Janette Pace, 1997. |
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| Janette and Beth. |
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| Bruce, the trusty photographer. |
Devin married Maddi Mukhar on June 7, 1997. Since her father was Palestinian, they had cool dancing and music in the back yard of the house in Pleasanton.
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| Devin and Maddi, June 7, 1997. |
In the video that Bob Wilson took, I love the tender scene where Maddi gets down to talk with Grandma Thelma eye to eye.
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| Devin and Maddi Merrill. |
When we gathered for Thelma's funeral in early 1998, I remember noticing that now that Julie and Joe were adults, all of the cousins were "the same age", and we could all talk together and had a lot in common, which was interesting. I also remember feeling the love there as the family gathered in Bruce & Beth's house in Pleasanton, and felt like this was a little taste of what the Celestial Kingdom will be like.
Bruce and Beth moved to Utah in July, 2002. They hadn't listed their home for sale, but someone knocked on their door one day and said they were looking for a house like theirs, and offered to buy it. They had been wanting to move up to Utah to be near more of their kids, so they sold their house without ever listing it!
Julie and Ralph Hinkson were getting married about that time, and wanted to have their reception in the back yard of the house, so they moved up their wedding so they could have their reception on June 28th.
The 6 Merrill kids were fond of doing "pyramid" pictures. Here's one outside the Oakland Temple at Julie's wedding.
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Bruce & Beth's children at Julie & Ralph's wedding, June 28, 2002
(Devin, Julie, Craig; Janette, Diana Karen) |
And here are Julie and Ralph Hinkson before their reception in the back yard in Pleasanton.
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| Julie and Ralph Hinkson, June 28, 2002. |
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| Bruce & Beth's family, June 28, 2002, Pleasanton, California. |
After the wedding, everybody had to bust a move to get the house packed up so they could move the following Monday.
They ended up buying Don & Kay's house at 3586 N 180 E in Provo, Utah, which was just around the corner from Craig & Andrea. Don & Kay were building a house in St. George.
In 2009, an 80th birthday celebration was held for Bruce, and it was quite the occasion. Here are some pictures that Sharon took of Bruce & Beth's family at the party.
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| Bruce, 2009, 80th birthday. |
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| Beth |
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| Beth's mother Jean Partridge |
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| Craig |
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| Andrea |
(Ryan was on his mission in 2009).
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| Ryan Merrill, October 2008. |
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| Stephanie |
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| Andrew |
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| Devin |
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| Karen and Maddi |
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| Luke |
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| Lauren and Claire |
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| Jackson |
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| Karen |
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| Diana |
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| Janette with Rebekah |
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| Brandon with Eli |
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| Claire |
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| Brady |
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| Julie |
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| Ralph |
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| Amber |
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| Hannah |
Bruce was always interested in astronomy. One time he was on a tour and came up with some information that made the guide ask if he should give the tour. So here are the kids around the astronomy display at Bruce's 80th birthday party.
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| Janette, Diana, Craig, Karen, Julie, Devin. 2009. |
And finally, here is a group picture of all of the relatives at the party in 2009.
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Bruce's 80th birthday party, November 28, 2009.
Back: Maddi, Devin, Hannah, Ralph, Andrew, Andrea, Eli, Craig, Brandon, Stephanie, Jeff, Janette, Diana, James, Leslie, Melissa, Jenny, David, Melanie, Anne, Linette, Randy, Julia, Matt, Mark, Roger, Sharon.
Middle: Julie, Amber, Karen, Brady, Jean P., Jackson, Beth, Rebekah, Lauren, Claire, Bruce, Jean W., Bob, Sienna.
Front: Erika, Shaylee, Kelsi, Mikayla, Adam, Jared, Luke, Tyler.
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And no group picture would be complete without a goofy one.
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| More realistic look at the family. |
And in November, 2015, Diana married Brent Osiek.
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| Brent and Diana Osiek, November 7, 2015 |
It was a bit chilly that day, as Devin and Luke will attest.
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| Luke, Lauren, Maddi and Devin Merrill, November 7, 2015 |
By the time of Diana's wedding, Julie's youngest children Bruce and Rachel had been born (in the photo below, Bruce is in the front row in a blue shirt, and Rachel is in Julie's arms).
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| Brent & Diana's wedding party |
Bruce celebrates his 90th birthday in November 2019.
I've always loved the kindness Bruce and Beth have shown, and it shows in the wonderful family they have raised.
