Irene May Fawcett Merrell

With familial, joyful reverence, the children of Irene May Fawcett Merrell share the news of her passing from dementia/Alzheimer’s, Sunday morning February 8, 2026 in Twin Falls, Idaho. Mom was born July 18, 1937, to Donald LeRoy Fawcett and Rose Margaret Bates in Portland, Oregon. She grew up with an older brother Robert (Bob) with whom she shared the same birthday, a younger brother Lynn, and sister Donna. She always spoke fondly of those years and her siblings, especially her brother Bob due to age proximity. Both brothers would pass at very young ages after they were all married, leaving her heart aching. Maybe this is why Mom dove into genealogy with all she had when the seasons were accommodating.

During her youth on 62nd Avenue she would make life-altering friends. True friends who wanted to include mom in their lives – church dances, socials, school activities, sports, academia, and just everything. They were the kind of kids who were genuinely kind, inclusive, and happy, mom said. She wanted those things in her life, too. Mom was taught the Restoration by families and ward missionaries. Over time her dad could see this wasn’t a passing fad so he consented to her baptism. As mom opened her heart to the good news of Jesus Christ she would be taught that she was one of God’s kids, a daughter of Heavenly parents. Mom has shared that this knowledge was life-changing and would guide her future choices and decisions. If you have ever been reprimanded, scolded, loved, or cheered on by her, she just knew there was a better you inside.

Mom would go to Lewis and Clark College in Portland on scholarship, graduating in chemistry and mathematics. She always wanted to become a Doctor of Medicine, yet she wanted a family more. She could see that becoming a doctor/surgeon would be a great way to help others, but raising her own posterity would have a far greater positive “pay-it-forward” effect than being aggrandized “Doctor” Irene.

Mom continued school at Brigham Young University in Provo eventually earning a Master’s in chemistry and a minor in mathematics along with a teaching certificate to teach the same. Nearing the end of her Provo schooling, a young auburn redheaded fellow with sun-kissed freckles (I think home teacher) from the Uinta Basin introduced mom to his cousin also from the Uintas… Glade Merrell – a sheep herder/tax assessor’s son from Duchesne, Utah. That’s right… a downtown Portland young lady and young man of the Uintas.

They would marry July 01, 1960, on the hottest day ever recorded (until recently) in the Salt Lake City Temple. They would land with their oldest in Rexburg, Idaho, to teach. Mom taught chemistry and mathematics at Madison Junior High School for several years and would have three more sons in Rexburg. Yes, four sons under four-years old.

They would leave Rexburg in 1965 and land in Sooner country at the University of Oklahoma to change career paths. Mom would nearly finish pharmacy at OU; have another son (number five); run the local Cub Scouts; attend lots of T-ball and baseball games; teach her sons how to throw a baseball; sew a lot; do homework; and detective work, genealogy. Letter writing and waiting on genealogical info – minimal phoning, no computers, and obviously no internet.

Moving back to Rexburg in 1971, Mom would finish her final year of pharmacy at Idaho State University. ISU fought accepting Mom into their pharmacy program – five kids, Mormon, not a political activist, etc. Oklahoma’s dean of pharmacy called ISU’s dean and told him he would accept his top student into ISU’s lower-rated pharmacy program, and he would also provide scholastic help. Mom would become a pharmacist and work up and down the Snake River Valley. Her career culminated at Ricks College Health Center by establishing their pharmacy and working at the health center for nineteen years. During these years Mom would have her final two children.

Mom and Dad served four missions after retiring: France – proselyting in Angoulême and Perpignan; Salt Lake City – Language Translation; Kona – Temple Ordinance workers; Rexburg – assisting local Stake Presidents with local service missions. She left her family tree quite full, not leaving many leaves unturned. The mother we have come to know is visiting up a storm with her brothers and the thousands of progenitors she has helped to “make perfect.”

Mom is preceded in death by her brothers Bob and Lynn, parents, and spouse, Glade. Surviving is her sister Donna (Frank) Kinnaman of Pendleton, Oregon. Children: Marshall (Jan), France Siding, ID; Miles (Brent), Salt Lake City, UT; Mark (DeAnn), Kennewick, WA; Matt (Sheri), Kimberly, ID; Mike, Rexburg, ID; Michelle (Rob Sturgill), Kimberly, ID; Monte (Julie), Gilbert, AZ. Grandchildren: twenty-seven. Great-grandchildren: twenty-five.

Her heart has surely been “turned to her fathers” and mothers. As Andrea Bocelli sings “Time to say goodbye”… for now.

Love you, Mom

A memorial service was held on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at 2:00 PM.

Internment was at Sunset Memorial Park.