Catherine (Cay) Genson was born in Lenox, Taylor, Iowa, 15 April 1925, to John E. and Edna Brading Genson and died 2 November 2008 in New Hope, Hennepin, Minnesota. At the age of two she moved with her parents to Truro, Madison, Iowa where she lived for the next sixteen years, graduating from Truro High School in 1942. She married Jack Wayne Merryman, son of Henry S. and Phyllis Sheets Merryman on 12 June 1943 in Rockport MO.
While Jack was serving overseas in the U.S. Army in France and Germany during WW II, Cay lived in Columbia SC, San Diego CA and Bellingham WA. When Jack returned home they made their home in Oskaloosa and Fairfield IA while Jack obtained a college degree. Jack worked for the Chevrolet Division of General Motors and during the next thirty-two years they lived in Clear Lake and Ft. Dodge IA, Watertown SD, Moorhead and Minneapolis MN, Lombard IL, and Fargo ND where Jack retired in 1981. They moved to St. George UT in 1986. Cay moved back to MN early in 2008.
Cay, Jack, and Kristin were baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on October 19, 1973 and were sealed in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple on 5 November 1974. Cay actively served her church and its members as a Ward and Stake Relief Society President in Fargo, North Dakota. She served for nine years as an ordinance worker in the St George LDS Temple, for four years in the Extraction Program, with her husband as Gospel Doctrine teachers, and for thirty four years as a Visiting Teacher.
Cay had a life long love for genealogy and spent many years on the staff of various LDS Family History Centers (FHC). She served as the Director of the FHC in Fargo for seven years. For over 65 years she worked tirelessly to assist neighbors, friends and strangers with their own family histories. Cay became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 2007. Her headstone will be marked with the DAR symbol.
She is survived by three children, Jan Seal Smith (James Parson) of Coon Rapids, MN, Mark Merryman (Carol deceased) of Minneapolis and Kristin (James) Carle of, Germany; six grandchildren, Jennifer Seal of Chicago, Robert (Kate) Seal of Lafayette CO, Meryl Beth (Thomas) Cooper of Yakima WA, Jamie and McKenzie Carle of Germany, Jack Merryman of Minneapolis and a brother-in-law, Bill (Helen) Lorenzen of Truro, IA. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack, parents and an infant daughter, Susan Ann.
In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to the LDS Family History Center, 82 N Dixie Drive, St George, UT 84770, or The LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund online at www.lds.org/ldsfoundation or LDS Philanthropies, P.O. Box 27188, Provo, UT 84602-7188.
Services will be at the Kale Funeral Home in Truro, Iowa on Tuesday, 11 November, 2008 at 10:30 am. Burial will be at 1:30 pm in the Booneville Iowa Cemetery next to her husband, Jack.
